The Time Patroller's Tale
by Hazuzu
Summary: The story of Isala, a Saiyan who was taken from Planet Vegeta folllowing a wish upon a Dragon Ball. This story coincides with the events of Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, but focuses on the character's time spent between missions.
1. Chapter 1: No More Kings

The thick blue liquid drained off of Isala and left her body perfectly clean in its wake. Her eyes flashed open, the hefty mask bounced on its tube, and her feet touched the warm metal of the pod floor. The door opened to reveal the room beyond, lined wall-to-wall with pods and, standing just outside, a familiar face.

"Kukumba." Isala smirked, as she stepped out of the pod and immediately found a battlesuit shoved in her face.

"Cover your shame, girl." The other Saiyan chastised her with a tone that could charitably have been described as sub-zero. "You can embarrass yourself in the field, but this is my ward."

"I could destroy you for comments like that." Isala warned the woman, as she pulled on the tightly-fitting battlesuit and met the doctor's eyes.

"Doubtful." Kukumba's fingers drifted over the keypad beside the pod. "What was it you fell victim to, again? Don't answer, because I already know: A nerfbat." She clucked her tongue. "Only the stupidest of Saiyans could find themselves the victim of those flapping pests, and yet, here you are."

"It was the Alpha, we'd already done what we meant to do, and the oh-so-wonderful King had ordered us back anyway." Isala scoffed, as she pulled on the nearby boots and stretched out her limbs. "Worst case scenario is I come back to see your beautiful smile." There was a disgusted sound from the taller woman. "Best case, a trophy."

"There are so many things wrong with what you just said." Kukumba scowled. "Fortunately, we have the time to go through all of them, seeing as you got your comrades scarred to death saving your pathetic hide."

Isala's eyes flicked to some of the occupants of other pods. Sure enough, they were all there.

"One, there is no such thing as an Alpha nerfbat. You likely just saw a big one. Secondly, I'll have no disparaging remarks against King Vegeta – that will be five hundred credits in the Treason Jar." Kukumba kept her eyes on Isala, who patted the spot where her belt would be if she were in full armor, then shrugged. "Third, I've already been forced to see your pallid little frame, and I was unimpressed. Find someone as weak, and preferably, young as, yourself if you want to find someone to rut with."

Isala laughed and strolled up to the nearby window, a content smile on her lips as she watched the shutters rise and reveal the landscape of Vegeta. The sandy plains were lit up by a clear red sky, not even a cloud to muddy it or dim the sharp shadows of the towering crags.

"I'm not going to rut with anyone. I'm going to kick ass."

"Are you certain?" Kukumba raised an eyebrow at the young woman, tapping away at her keyboard. "You've already failed the latter, and the former requires little more than lying down."

"Yeah, that's why I don't want to." Isala shifted her gaze so she could see her reflection in the mirror, her messy black locks hanging down to her jaw. "I want to fight. I want to fight animals, I want to fight monsters, I want to fight little guys, I want to fight big guys, I want to fight anything that thinks it's tough enough to beat me and smash its skull into the rocks."

"Oh, a low-class, low-rank warrior who enjoys combat. How droll." Kukumba drawled. "I suppose you'll also keep coming back, never give up, never give in, and so on and so forth."

"That, too."

"You won't get anywhere like that." Isala could see Kukumba's reflection shaking her head. "Fighting for its own sake makes nothing but scarred idiots for more ambitious warriors to order around. If you really want to improve, you'd find something you believe in and fight for its sake. That's how Kings are made."

Isala's lip curled as she grunted. "Then it sounds stupid." She said, then took a moment to compose herself. "How about Vegeta?" She asked, as she placed a hand on the window. "Seems like something worth fighting for to me."

"Oh, your homeland. What a wonderful and worthwhile motivation. Tell me, how many people fighting for their homeland have you killed in the couple of years you've been in the Frieza Force?"

"Uhhh..." Isala paused to count. "About one million, two thousand? Tahwe tracks the kills."

"And they're still dead. Do you think they loved their planets less than you?" Kukumba clicked her tongue. "No. Most people love their homelands, or the people around them. You'll need more than that if you hope to ever be more than a mook."

Isala glanced down, then back out at Vegeta. "Will you let me off the Treason Jar?"

"...for this conversation, I suppose I could."

"King Vegeta." Isala said, her voice wavering for a moment. "That piece of crap is the most pathetic excuse for a Saiyan I've ever seen. Yeah, he took over a planet, yeah, he's powerful, but who gives a crap about that when he starts licking boots the moment someone more powerful comes along? We've all taken over planets. It's all we do now. He just points us at a planet of weaklings, tells us to go, and we go, and everyone dies, and we're still the same as we were when we went there!"

"There's no challenges, there's no training, we're being turned into a bunch of children satisfied with whatever toys our parents throw our way! Dyll has been in the Frieza Force for twenty years, and do you know how much stronger he's got? Five hundred power levels. Five hundred!" Isala spat. "Do you know how strong King Vegeta is? Ten thousand. He's been that way since he claimed this planet. Second strongest? The Prince, his son. Then the mid-level Saiyans, aren't even a fraction as powerful as that."

"You know how I know that? Frieza Force database, it has everyone's available, even the King's. If King Vegeta cared about getting stronger, he'd train us, spar with us, but he won't. Nor will his son. Or his Generals. Or any of the mid-level Saiyans. They all talk about being strong, but they don't care, because they just want to make sure that nobody else gets strong enough to challenge them! And y'know what I realized?"

"King Vegeta is just doing what Frieza tells him. Frieza doesn't want the Saiyans to get stronger, so he has King Vegeta send us to clean up pests that mean we won't get stronger. He keeps King Vegeta on his throne, so he can't leave to get stronger. King Vegeta doesn't want any of us to take his throne, so he doesn't let us get stronger!" Isala clenched her fist tightly at her side.

"We're just going to be like the rest of the mooks that fill up the Frieza Force's ranks, one day. King Vegeta will die, and we'll get Prince Vegeta, who's not as strong. Then we'll get his Prince Vegeta, who's not as strong as him. And that will keep going, and going, until we have a King who's as powerful as a nerfbat and Frieza gets to sit comfortably knowing nobody will ever be able to challenge him!"

"Well, screw that! No King Vegeta! No Emperor Frieza! I'm going to fight because I don't want to be like one of the bug-eyed freaks of the Frieza Force! I don't want the rest of the Saiyans to be like them, either! I'm going to keep fighting until I'm strong enough to kill that son of a bitch on the throne, and then I'm going to use it to crush Frieza into a puddle of purple paste!" She slammed her fist into the window, which stretched far outside of its frame until she drew her fist back and it bounded back into shape.

"Well." Kukumba ran a hand through her hair as she stepped up behind Isala. "That's a good star-"

"What's that?" Isala asked, her rage-filled reverie broken by the sight of an orange pinprick in the sky. It was growing bigger and brighter by the moment, casting the sands of Vegeta in an amber glow. The color drained from her face and Kukumba's as they sensed the heat brewing just outside of Vegeta's atmosphere. "What is that?!"

"I...it's Frieza. It must be. Nobody else has that kind of power." Kukumba stared for a few moments longer, then rushed to the nearest keypad. "He's...he's betraying us!" She realized, as her fingers darted over it and the shutters suddenly slammed shut. A humming noise surrounded the medbay as its shields were raised. "This...this will not be enough." Her eyes blinked rapidly as she stared at the wall, at the readings as defenses were raised. "We have but moments."

"No, no, no, no..." Isala span around to face Kukumba, clenching both of her fists as tightly as she could. "There's a way out! There has to be a way out!" But the supernova was already falling. The nearby energy detector was skyrocketing.

"There may be a chance for you." Kukumba said, an unearthly calm suddenly coming to her voice. "While you were recovering, the chambers kept track of your power level. It was much greater than it was than when you came here. Perhaps if you defend yourself, you might survive." She said, as she strode towards Isala and looked into her eyes. "Do it quickly, and as I say. A simple energy barrier, all over your body, as strong as you can make it. Now."

Isala was many things, and in that moment, scared enough to do as she was told. She folded her arms over her chest, focusing her energy over her body. She suddenly realized how much stronger she felt, her first true use of power since reawakening, It flowed over her like water, then solidified like diamond, a shell around her that she poured more and more energy into. The fear at the back of her mind only made her pour it faster.

Then she felt Kukumba's hands on her shoulders, lending her energy. It felt somehow less than she'd been expecting, but all she could feel was gratitude as the doctor supported her in what was almost certain to be her last moments.

Isala got to watch as the supernova collided with Vegeta. The first thing she saw was the medical ward dissipating before her eyes, not so much melting as crumbling into nothing as the edge of the great ki blast fell heavily upon it. She got to see as Kukumba's skin crumbled right before her, her skull disappear into the eye-searing light, and her body go limp.

She screamed as she watched Kukumba die, and she could already feel her barrier being stripped away by the immense power of the Emperor. In her peripheral vision, she could see the pod filled with her comrades being torn apart just as easily as the rest of the building. Tears boiled in her eyes as they, too, were consumed by the blast. And then she was falling, pouring all of her ki into her only defense.

She saw Vegeta around her, but the red sky had already been stolen. There was just the sand, the light of the supernova, and the knowledge that she was about to die with the rest of her people. Her shield finally shattered, pain echoed through her…

And then it was gone. Isala stopped wincing. She was standing in the middle of a garden. Her eyes darted around, finding red wooden structures, great golden gears in the sky, some kind of green serpentine creature hovering in the air above her. She didn't recognize any of it. Her heart was still pounding from the death she just faced, the image of her planet still fresh in her eyes, and she was alone.

Then she saw someone. A man in a long black jacket, walking towards her as calm as could be.

"You're surprised, I'm sure..."


	2. Chapter 2: Boots on the Face

Drawing a sword was the worst thing Trunks could have done. All of the rage that had been running through Isala latched onto her Saiyan instincts, and those had just found a target. As he lashed out with his sword, she hurled herself forwards, sliding on the ground and slamming her feet into the man's ankles just as he lunged.

Trunks fell forwards, catching himself with his ki before his sword met the ground and his face met his sword. He righted himself, but Isala had planted her palms on the ground and flipped her legs backwards. Her feet slammed into his spine, forcing him away as she flipped back into the air. He span around, sheathing his sword as he turned around.

She was hovering upside down, her face a picture of rage as she hurled a hail of energy right at Trunks' face. He gritted his teeth, bringing his arms up to defend himself from the barrage. "I can't say I expected you to be this strong..." He admitted, as he stopped lowering his energy quite so much and the Saiyan's energy blasts became that much easier to deal with. "I thought most Saiyans were a lot weaker than this."

That comment brought forth a flash of rage and grief in Isala. She let out a cry as she rushed forwards, slamming her boot between Trunks' guarding arms and straight into the center of his forehead. He gasped at the sudden stunning pain, floating back just before she shot over his head, wrapping her ankles around his throat and rotating in the air. He let out another grunt as his head was suddenly spiked into the hard stone floor.

Trunks bounced off of the stone floor, and was met with a swinging kick to the gut for his troubles. He was sent flying across the garden, then the Saiyan blinked behind him as he was regaining his balance. She grabbed both of his arms, yanking them backwards as she slammed her feet into his back, just where she'd hit before. He tested his strength, then winced as she complimented her twisting of his arms with a series of rapid kicks to his back.

"Okay..." Trunks said. "You've proven your basic ability." A sphere of pink energy appeared around him, staggering Isala backwards as he turned around, undamaged despite her assault, to face her. "Let's see how you get passed a warrior on the defensive. Take your best shot; I won't get hurt, I promise."

Some small part of Isala was starting to suspect something strange was going on. She knew where she just was. She didn't know where she was now, or who this man was, or what he was trying to accomplish. But she knew that it felt like he was mocking her, and there wasn't a single cell of her in the mood for that.

Isala dashed forwards, attempting to use her momentum to catch Trunks' throat, but he just sidestepped before her arm could connect. She spun back around to face him, swinging her leg, but he blocked it with his forearm. She hooked her foot into the crook of his elbow, using it to pull herself up into the air. Her stomp onto his skull was met with a simple adjustment of his position, forcing her attack to meet the block formed by his arms.

The grieving Saiyan screamed in rage, as she poured her energy into her hands and sent down a barrage of energy that would curve around the boy, then come back to hit him in the spine. One of the arms crossing his chest darted backwards, deflecting each of the orange orbs while his other arm defended against the series of kicks against his bicep.

"This is fine." Trunks said, blinking. "You don't need to get so angry..."

Isala spotted an opening in the boys' defense and sent another wave of energy below the boy, some arcing around to force him to defend his back, while others hit the ground and sent up a cloud of dust. She used this cover to gather all of her energy into her elbow, sending herself down with a weak kick against Trunks' remaining defensive arm, then spinning down. Her elbow collided with his temple, breaking the man's defense enough for her to send a knee into his gut, a fist into his cheek, then a headbutt to his nose.

"You're pretty go-" Trunks had regained his balance and was raising his guard again when Isala was upon him, wrenching apart his arms with hers so that she could swing her legs up and kick him in the face. She once more spun around, keeping all three appendages locked in place as she slammed the man into the ground below. She poured her energy into her feet, hoisting herself up as she sent another blast of energy right into his face.

"...good." Trunks finished his earlier sentence, his face once more. "Let's see how you are at defending yourself." He said, as Isala dashed at him once more. This time, he moved to meet her, swinging his fist faster than she could hers. She ducked under his arm, moving past him, so he span around to elbow her in the back of the neck. She rolled forwards, catching his arm between her ankles and throwing him ahead of her.

Trunks smiled and threw himself forward again, an uppercut aimed straight at the Saiyan's jaw, but she ducked her head backwards. He saw her about to use the momentum to kick him in the jaw, so he sent his elbow down, blocking it at the pass, while he sent a jab straight at her heart. She blocked it with a suddenly raised fist. He had the one that had just blocked, so he swung at her face and she blocked it with her elbow.

"Stalemate." Trunks said, approvingly. His smile was met with fury. "Looks lik-" He was interrupted as she once more slammed her head into his nose, with all her power, and there was the faintest of cracks. "Hey, initiation's over." Trunks rubbed his nose, but Isala kept throwing fists at him. He blocked all of them with ease, knocking her faintly off-balance with each counter. "Hey! Hey!" She wasn't listening.

Trunks frowned, brought his hands up to his face, and Isala fell unconscious in the wake of a great flash of light.

Isala groaned as she woke up. Her body felt groggy, her eyes sore, and it took her a few moments for her mind to catch up with where she was. Everything was fresh in her mind, but it felt somehow detached. Like the fact that she'd lost consciousness since then meant it hadn't happened. She didn't know whether that said anything about her, but she couldn't linger on the question, as she had to know where she was.

The answer to that question was...in a dome. There was a couple of bunk beds along the wall, a table nearby, and that man who'd fought her upon her arrival. He'd removed his coat, and was adding yet another bowl of food to the table that was already stacked with it. She pulled herself out of the bed, tugged at the neck of her battlesuit, and stared at the man.

"Hey." Trunks put down the bowl as he noticed Isala. The food smelled good. Not perfect, but good. "I'm Trunks. Eat up; as much as you like." He offered, as he sat down at the table. "It's the least I can do considering...what happened." He explained. "I guess I should explain what was going on." He said, as he watched Isala slowly approach the table and remain standing as she grabbed one of the bowls.

"I'm a Time Patroller; we're like the Frieza Force, but we work for the guardian of time instead of evil emperors. You can call her the Supreme Kai of Time; I know that might sound like arrogance, but, it's not, really. She's nothing like Frieza. You'd just have to see her to..." He considered his words. "Anyway. I needed a partner, somebody who could keep up with me. Somebody exceptional."

"The Supreme Kai of Time recommended I make a wish, instead of searching everywhere for somebody who'd fit. So I did." Trunks said, as he watched Isala grab her next bowl of food. "But...we can't control the Wishes, not really. The Dragon who makes them come true has some room for interpretation. I thought he'd grab somebody who might know what was going on, just somebody with potential..."

Trunks sighed. "What I didn't expect was for him to grab a Saiyan from when Vegeta was being destroyed. I wouldn't have started sparring with you if I'd known that was where you'd been taken from, but that's on me." He admitted. "I only found out when I went to check the Time Scrolls and saw what happened."

"I don't normally talk about this with strangers, but I think I owe you." Trunks said, steadying his voice. "My home was destroyed, just like Vegeta. I lost all of my family, all of my friends, just like you did. I was fortunate enough to find some people to help me through it, and I hope we can do that for you. Whatever time you need, whatever help you need, I have your back. And I'm sorry."

Trunks was watching Isala for her reaction. She wasn't staring at him any more, just gobbling down more of her meal with downcast eyes.

"You don't have to do anything today. We've got all the time we need. You can just enjoy your meal, shower, sleep, whatever you like. This room is just yours, for now – we normally have more than one person in each house, but, we don't have many members right now, and you deserve your privacy." Trunks explained. "If you need anything, you can use the phone over there to call a robot helper."

"Tomorrow, I'll show you around Tokitoki City. You can get to know some of the people, meet the Supreme Kai of Time..." Trunks kept his eyes on Isala, but she still wasn't responding to him. "I'll get out of your hair." He said, as he stood up. "There are some changes of clothes in the wardrobe, if you want to change out of that. I get it if you don't; my dad's a Saiyan and he still wears his old battlesuit all the time."

Isala swallowed a mouthful of noodles and stared up at Trunks.

"It's...a long story. You probably don't want to hear it now, but, I'm a half-Saiyan. There's a lot about Saiyans that you're going to learn in the next few days, so be ready for that." Trunks said. "And there's something I should explain now – you were a lot stronger than I was expecting, and a lot stronger than you know. That's because of something we call Zenkai. When Saiyans almost die, they get a big power boost. Really big."

Isala tilted her head at the young man.

"You know King Vegeta? More powerful than him. It happened twice to you, from that nerfbat, and then from being healed when Shenron summoned you. Be careful of it if you want to train, because you might end up destroying more than you bargained for." Trunks said, and saw Isala grabbing another bowl, so he walked towards the door. "Goodbye for now. I'll see you tomorrow." He promised, as the door opened and he stepped out into Tokitoki City.

Isala finished her meal in silence, gathering up all of the bowls and tossing them into the sink. She showed for a long time, her mind at a loss for where to settle, before checking the wardrobe for clothes. She decided that she didn't like the look of any of them, so she pulled her battlesuit back on and climbed into bed.


	3. Chapter 3: Saiyan Saving Time

When Isala rose from her bed, her face was set into a deep frown. Her dreams had found some corner of her skull to hide in, giving her fresh memories of misery plenty of room to taunt her. She didn't feel any better for being in the waking world, in an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar land and with nothing more than the clothes on her back to connect her to where she'd been before. And, thinking of her clothes, they were grimy with the sweat that had slathered her body while she slept.

Her battlesuit was thrown into the machine marked for cleaning and she spent a long time in the shower, scrubbing at her hair, her eyes, all over herself. She wanted to pinch herself just to stop her mind from wandering, find something to think about, but it didn't help. And there was nothing in the enclosed four walls. So she just cried.

When she stepped out of the shower, Isala stared at herself in the mirror and thought of all of the things she wouldn't get to see again. Her face was the same. Refreshed, even. But the background wasn't. The people she was going to meet weren't. The drills, the training, the banter. It was as she remember Kukumba's face that it hit her.

Her goal wouldn't ever be achieved. Toppling King Vegeta, defeating Emperor Frieza. Making sure that the Saiyans wouldn't be a footnote. She'd already failed at that. Her emotions threatened to overwhelm her, but she forced them down, swallowed them. It was too painful to think about, and she couldn't spend her first day in this place curled up in her...home. The word didn't feel right, but it was what it was.

Isala pulled her battlesuit on, then her boots, and looked at herself again. She didn't even have the gloves, or the armor. But it would have to do, and she'd have to find her own clothes eventually – she couldn't wear this forever. She didn't like how she was looking at herself, if she was honest, so she went back to the wardrobe and grabbed a pan-shaped hat. It would help her hide her face, and it was white, so it matched her black battlesuit.

She decided to go through the various techniques she learned as she prepared food for herself, which proved harder than it should have been, as she was faced with nothing but unfamiliar food. She worked backwards from what Trunks had provided for her the night before, trying to figure out what would cook what, and eventually found herself sitting in front of many bowls of noodles, after nothing else had worked out.

Eating felt normal, at least. Shoveling flavorless crap into her mouth was something she was more than used to, and that made it feel like she could face the day ahead with a little more ease. She spent some time channeling her ki, tossing a tiny bead of energy back and forth between her hands until there was a knock at the door.

Isala extinguished the bead by crushing it in her palm, then walked over to the door. Trunks was standing there, cast against the white, dome-based architecture of Toki Toki city in his black coat.

"Do you wear the same outfit every day?" Isala asked, just as Trunks was about to speak.

"Yeah. It's my uniform, sort of."

"Sort of?"

"We don't wear uniforms outside of training." Trunks said. "You can, but you don't have to. Unless we're taking part in an in-depth Time Patrol, whatever makes our Patrollers more comfortable is what they wear. And, uh, good morning."

"Morning." Isala said, as she stepped out into Toki Toki City itself and the door closed behind her. She took a moment to absorb her new surroundings. "This place looks nice."

"Yeah. The Supreme Kai of Time chose it herself."

"Do you have to say her whole title every time?" Isala raised an eyebrow.

"Uh...yeah." Trunks scratched his head. "There isn't exactly anything else to call her."

"What if I call her SKoT?"

"Please don't." Trunks shot a glance over his hip, just in case. "She's nice, but...she's under a lot of stress. She handles the flow of time through all the Universes. You'd be amazed how well she holds herself together, considering."

"Gotcha." Isala bobbed her head. "Who decided the gravity for this place?" She asked, as she hopped up and soared into the air before landing with ease. "It's really weak."

"That would be because most people aren't as strong as Saiyans, even," Trunks remembered his father, and that he couldn't quite make out Isala's eyes beneath the shadow of her hat. "Ones who are taking things easy. Most adult humans are only power level five, and some of our recruits will be starting not much higher than that. We have to accommodate the newest patrollers, or most of them won't be able to crawl out of bed in the morning."

"I didn't know you were recruiting so many weaklings." Isala laughed.

"Yeah." Trunks scratched the back of his head. "Our current roster is approaching your power level, but we hope that they'll keep getting better, and that you'll improve, too. Being a Saiyan should only make that easier."

"Who else is here, besides Saiyans and Humans?" Isala asked. "And what do they look like?"

"Humans look...like me." Trunks said. "There are the Namekians, who look like male humans, but green, no hair, and antennae. And there are the Majin, who..." He waved his hands as he tried to find the words. "They have men and women, but they're made of goo. Humanoid goo. They're descended from Majin Buu, and they can be a little weird at first, but it's nothing you wouldn't have seen before."

Isala nodded. "You meet all kinds of people in the Frieza Force. Anyone else?"

"There are others, but you'll mostly meet Humans, Saiyans, Namekians, or Majin." Trunks explained. "They're just the people who spread out and showed up the most. We actually had to accept some Majin after a gang of them got loose on a dessert-manufacturing moon and overwhelmed the environmental controls."

Trunks started to walk, so Isala followed. "So what have you recruited me for?"

"The Time Patrol." Trunks said. "We ensure that the timeline goes as it should, without intervention from outside sources who have access to time travel. They're more common than you'd think. We use Time Scrolls, artifacts that record history, to observe when these changes happen, what's changed, and go back in time to stop whoever's messing with time. It's not easy work, especially considering the kind of power you need to time travel, and that's why we summoned you. If somebody powerful shows up, I need a partner who can keep up."

"I'll do my best." Isala said, as she stretched out her arms and scratched her cheek. "So you're not allowed to change the past?"

"Absolutely not." Trunks said, his eyes flicking to Isala. "It's incredibly dangerous to the fabric of the universes, especially if you try to change anything important. Stealing clothes from the past – please don't steal clothes from the past – won't matter, and nobody will care if you decide to throw a pie in somebody's face. But the big stuff, the things we'll be protecting, can't be changed."

"Has anyone done that?" Isala chuckled. "Thrown a pie at some guy's face?"

Trunks opened his mouth, paused, and finally spoke. "No, or, nobody's told me about it. This is the marketplace." He introduced the area with a wave of his arm, and Isala got her first view of other residents of Toki Toki City. "You'll be provided with zeni for your work in the Time Patrol, and you can spend it here for clothes, food, battle equipment..."

"What?" Isala tore her eyes away from the small rainbow of people moving about the market to look at Trunks. "Why aren't those provided by the Time Patrol?"

"Well...they are." Trunks said. "This is just how we ration it, and let people decide what they need more of to complete their next mission to the best of their ability. One type of zeni is for patrol-related purchases, like healing items, armor, food. The other is for personal things, like entertainment or candy or clothes."

"Yeah, okay." Isala said. "That sounds fair. Do I get more for being your partner?"

"You get more for personal things, if you do well in your missions." Trunks answers. "Otherwise, you get the same basic allotment as everyone else."

"Is there any other way to get more zeni?" Isala asked.

"The Supreme Kai of Time sometimes gives more to people who make her happy." Trunks admitted with a nervous chuckle. "For telling a good joke or complimenting her..."

"Her…?"

"Dancing, her dancing." Trunk turned to the side to hide his blush.

"Hello! Who is this?" Came a scratchy, feminine voice from right behind trunks. He span around to find that somebody had placed themselves between him and Isala. She was a pale silver Majin, whose gooey body was formed curvy and muscular, and about a head shorter than Trunks, which was one higher than Isala. Her excessively large bangs were bouncing as she peered down at Isala with gold-on-black eyes.

"Hey, I'm Isala." Isala flashed a smile at the girl who had to bend over to peer beneath her hat and at her face. "I'm Trunks' partner."

"Avad-"

"Oh, that can't be true!" The Majin twisted her head upside down to get an even better look at Isala. "Somebody as cute and powerful as you must have come from one of Avada's wishes!" She giggled. "Why don't you give Avada a hug?"

"Avada!" Trunks said firmly, making the Majin's head snap back in to place and step back, to be able to look at both of the people talking to her. "What did we agree about meeting new people?"

Avada's face scrunched up in concentration, then she snapped her fingers. "Don't molest them immediately!"

Isala's eyes widened.

"Don't molest any one, at all." Trunks corrected. "You have to see if they like you, then ask if you can...you know."

"Okay, okay!" Avada bobbed her head, then bent down to look at Isala, her non-nose almost touching Isala's actual one. "Do you like Avada?"

"Sure." Isala didn't flinch.

"Yay! Can Avada absooooorb you?" Avada's limbs were already starting to jellify.

"I don't know what that is."

"It's..." Trunks cleared his throat. "The original Majin Buu, who was very evil," He looked pointedly at Avada. "Used to absorb people, gain their power. Avada is under the impression that she can absorb people nicely, by…"

"...rutting?" Isala shot a sideways glance at the man.

"Yeah."

Isala laughed. "Wow. Okay. So, not now." She said, as she put a finger against Avada's shoulder and pushed her away to a standing position. Her flesh was noticeably malleable, but she let herself be pushed back nonetheless. "But, if I'm not busy, we can talk. Talk fighting. Whatever."

"And then Avada will ll absorb yo-"

"Avada!"

"Okay! Avada is going now!" Avada giggled and blew a kiss to Isala, then skipped off and left the two standing in the wake of her presence.

"I can see why you needed a Saiyan." Isala remarked with a smirk.

"She's a talented fighter, but..." Trunks shrugged. "I don't know if she actually thinks she'll get more powerful by absorbing people, or if she's just a pervert. Anyway, you won't have to worry about that from any other recruits we have right now. Their quirks are generally less invasive."

"As long as they don't try to kill me for the sake of it, I don't mind." Isala shrugged. "The Frieza Force was filled with people like that, and they never came out of it alive."

"You, er. Yeah. Nobody's allowed to kill other Time Patrollers."

"That makes sense." Isala said. "Have you got time to teach me how not to kill my enemies?"


	4. Chapter 4: SKoT

"Here we are. The Time Nest. Where the magic happens." Trunks introduced Isala with a wave of his hand. Their surroundings were particularly green, Isala noticed, and not particularly pleasant. It felt disconnected from the rest of Toki Toki City for some reason, perhaps because the sky was blue and cloudy, whereas this was just a vast expanse of emerald with some kind of planets in the far background.

Isala strolled alongside Trunks as he kept walking further in, her eyes catching some kind of bird soaring against the skyline, and listened to him explain more. "In that building, we keep the time scrolls, where all that's happened is chronicled. The Supreme Kai of Time lives in those buildings over there, and they're absolutely off-limits unless she invites you in."

"Does that happen a lot?" Isala asked, scratching her head.

"Not when I've been here." Trunks said. "She said she plans to host some tea parties in the future, so perhaps you'll get to see it then."

"Right. And what's a tea party?"

"You sit at a table with a hot drink and some sweet food, then you eat it." Trunks explained. "It's not what you'd think of when you hear a party, but she's eager to start cooking for herself."

"Huh." Isala glanced back at the house. "How old is she?"

"Uh, seventy five million years old." Trunks's cheeks turned faintly pink. Isala glanced up at him like he was talking nonsense. "But, uh, she doesn't look a day over five million. I know that's something people say, but, really, she doesn't. Kais are almost immortal anyway, and she's the boss of time."

"About that, does she control time?" Isala asked. "It sounds like this is her planet, so she controls the things that happen here. And she doesn't age. So, we're immortal too, right?"

"Uh...y'know, I don't know about that." Trunks said.

"I can answer that!" Came a voice from behind Trunks, who spun around to reveal...air. Isala had to look down to see the new arrival, which was a first for the Saiyan. She stood at about four foot tall, with pink skin, darker hair, and an outfit that was some kind of stiff dress, with baggy pants and a skintight bodysuit-like top leading up to a turtleneck.

"H-Hello there!" Trunks greeted the Supreme Kai of Time, who threw up a a peace sign to Isala while Trunks looked back to Isala. "This is the master of the Time Nest." Then, she blew a kiss to Isala. "She's the Supreme Kai of Time!" She span around on the spot and twerked in Isala's general direction. "And a very important person." She finished her spinning by posing with both arms outstretched. "She manages the flow of time throughout the multiverse, keeping a close eye on history and protecting it."

The Supreme Kai of Time's dual-peace-sign technique was interrupted by an owl landing on her forehead, and Isala watched with a smirk at the kerfuffle that followed. Tokitoki was eventually fought off, leaving the three of them standing on the path leading to the Time Nest.

"Anyhow!" The Supreme Kai of Time spun around to face Isala. "You must be the warrior Shenron summoned. I'm the Supreme Kai of Time," She threw up a final peace sign, just for good measure. "Nice to meet ya!"

"You know, she may not seem like it," Trunks' voice lost confidence at the stink-eye the Supreme Kai shot at him, but he finished anyway. "But she's in quite a high position in the universe."

"Nice to meet you, SKoT." Isala matched the Kai's peace sign with one of her own. She didn't know what it meant, but it made the Kai smile, so it was probably the right thing to do. "I'm Isala."

"SKoT?" The Supreme Kai of Time tilted her head, then barked out a laugh. "I like it! And you're one of the Saiyans, aren't you? Original style..." She cooed, as she stepped up to Isala and peered around at her brown furry tail. "And that armor...that's definitely Frieza Force. Am I right? I'm right."

"Yeah, you got it in one." Isala nodded, after taking a moment to compose herself. She didn't have to tuck her tail away from the Kai's view. It was her tail. She was a Saiyan. She didn't have to hide it just because it made her stick out. She should be proud.

"So that's Age 739, huh..." She put a finger to her lips, made a humming noise, then smiled up at Isala. "Anyhow, welcome to the Time Patrol! You're going to love it! I heard you already got a good start on training with your partner?" She asked, batting her eyelashes.

"I already told you all about that." Trunks said.

"Shush. I want to hear it from her." The Kai said, not looking away from Isala.

"It went okay." Isala shrugged. She hadn't really thought on how that fight had went – she lost, it was right after the worst day of her life, and it just hadn't been important. But, she wouldn't be a Saiyan if she didn't know how to make herself look good in fights. "I had the upper hand, smashed his nose open, but he got a lucky hit."

The Supreme Kai nodded approvingly. "Looks like we've got a badass over here! Don't you think so, Trunks?"

"Yeah." Trunks nodded, despite his wounded pride and nose. "She's got a lot of potential, or else Shenron wouldn't have summoned her."

"And you're a real warrior, huh?" The Supreme Kai asked.

"Yeah, I've been fighting my whole life. That's why I got picked for the Frieza Force instead of being one of those infiltration babies." Isala answered. "I guess the dragon saw me better than they did."

"Mhmm, mhmm." The Kai nodded as she walked around Isala, observing the Saiyan from several angles before peeking out around her shoulder. "And you liked fighting, right?"

"As much as anyone else?" Isala guessed. She had the feeling she was being interviewed, which bothered her much more than the blatant studying. It didn't make her angry, at least. Maybe that was the dullness at the center of her mind, or maybe the Kai was just unusual enough to not annoy her. "A lot of it wasn't what I was after. You don't learn by fighting planets filled with weaklings, and there wasn't a point to it. Not a good one, anyway."

"Oh, how interesting! So you like to have a purpose to fight for, huh?" SKoT winked at the Saiyan. "What kind of thing do you want to fight for?"

Isala's mind flashed back and she went silent for a moment. "It used to be kicking Vegeta and Frieza's ass. Now...I guess there has to be a lot of tyrants through history. I'll settle for kicking their asses until I figure things out."

"Really?" The Supreme Kai of Time bit her bottom lip as she stepped up in front of Isala again. "So you're rugged and heroic..."

"Supreme Kai of Time, can we talk over here for a moment?" Trunks asked, gesturing near to the houses.

"Okay! I'll be back! Stay right here!" The Supreme Kai said to Isala, then tottered after Trunks until they were out of earshot. Regular earshot, where most people would have consciously avoided listening. Isala didn't.

"Supreme Kai, you know that Isala just...what she went through, don't you?" Trunks whispered, as he bent over to talk to the Supreme Kai of Time.

"Duh." She rolled her eyes.

"And that she's probably not in the right place to make emotionally sound decisions."

"Yeah?"

"I don't think, I mean, I don't think that her boss flirting with her is appropriate?"

"Wha-?! You pervert!" The Supreme Kai of Time placed her hands on her hips as she glared up at Trunks. "I'm being nice!"

"But...you were checking her out the entire time..."

"Yeah, well, at least I didn't attack her as soon as her people got destroyed, like some people I could mention!" The Supreme Kai contested hotly.

Trunks scratched the back of his head. "Okay. Good point. But, I know that you've got that thing for Saiyans..."

"There's no thing! What thing?"

"I...well...one of the droids kept reporting that you kept taking one of the scrolls out..."

"So?"

"The one with Bardock…?"

"S-So what?" The Supreme Kai said. "He's dreamy, that's all. And they're my Time Scrolls! Stupid robots shouldn't be recording what I do with them!"

"Well...anyway." Trunks coughed. "I know she's your type, that's all I'm saying. Tough, wild, hates tyrants, and rugged."

"I won't listen to your perverse thoughts any more!" The Supreme Kai of Time said, pointing an accusatory finger at Trunks' face. "And I'll thank you to keep them to yourself in the future! I'm just trying to comfort my newest employee!"

Trunks opened his mouth to speak.

"And we will never speak of this again! Or you'll have time scroll indexing duty for the next year!"

Trunks decided to keep his mouth closed and followed the Supreme Kai of Time back to Isala, who decided to look busy by examining her nails. She wasn't quite sure how balanced the power dynamic between the pair was, but the presence or lack of the Supreme Kai's inappropriateness didn't bother her. She'd probably have preferred that over the idea that the pair of them were coddlig her, which left her feeling uncertain at best.

"We're back!" The Supreme Kai of Time beamed. "Where were we...immortality, right! The Time Nest is timeless, but the rest of Toki Toki City isn't. But, the disciples of a Supreme Kai can eventually access godly ki, which can greatly extend your lifespan." She giggled. "So, spend enough time with me and maybe you'll get that!"

Isala nodded. She felt that she'd rather get her days organized before she even considered anything like immortality. It was on the horizon of the horizon of her concerns at that point.

"Do you offer training?"

"Me?" The Supreme Kai of Time laughed. "No way. I don't fight, really, but I can teach you all kinds of things. Use of time travel is strictly forbidden unless you're given permission by a Kai, so I might be able to help you out with some techniques."

"That sounds pretty great." Isala smiled. "Do you know when we can start with that?"

"Whenever you like! Once you've finished being taught the basics of time travel, briefings, passed your tests, and are officially authorized to travel through time." The Supreme Kai nodded. "Then you can come to my house and we can have a tea party! You can tell me all about...whatever you want to talk about."

"Right, that. How long do you think that's gonna take?" She asked, looking to Trunks.

"A few weeks, at least. It's quicker than most, since I'll be teaching you directly, but you need to at least a few eras of history from at least one universe down before you're allowed to start fixing anything." Trunks said. "Don't worry – it's going to be fun...well, it won't be so bad, anyway." He nodded at Isala.

"Weeks?" Isala frowned. "Just for learning?"

"Sorry." Trunks shrugged. "Rules are rules."

"And you'll get to train in that time." The Supreme Kai of Time encouraged the Saiyan. "Trunks is actually a really good fighter, so he'll be able to teach you a lot if you can avoid headbutting him for a few hours."

"Can I manage that?" Isala scratched her chin. "I'll do my best."

"I'll be there to cheer you on." The Supreme Kai said. "I bet you'll look great in action."

Trunks nodded. "We've got the best resources...well, anywhere. All of the best techniques from across all of time, with all of the best fighters, and enough tech to let you get back on your feet no matter how beat up you get. You'll love it."

"Y'know, it sounds like I will." Isala smiled.

"Great!" The Supreme Kai of Time said. "Now that we've sorted that out, can I touch your tail?"


	5. Chapter 5: Prince and Prejudice

"So. Raditz, huh?" Isala mused aloud, as she suddenly found herself standing on the loamy soil of Earth. She wasn't impressed. It wouldn't have taken a lot of power to destroy a planet like this, and as she'd been training with Trunks, she'd realized just how much power that Zenkai had given her. She had no doubt that she'd be rivaling the Saiyan Elites. Not that that statement was worth much any more, and it hadn't been worth the price. "I hear he's got some good techniques, but the bastard never shares."

"That's who we're dealing with." Trunks' voice came through the earpiece embedded in Isala's sunglasses. "Remember, don't kill him. You've just got to make him weak enough that he won't be able to dodge Piccolo's Makankasappo."

"Yeah, I know." Isala said. "I can see them squaring up right now." She said, as she watched the three figures from a far enough distance that they wouldn't be able to see her. Trunks had taught her some of the basics of sensing ki, both so that she could hide her power level from the Earthlings, and just because it was too useful for a Time Patroller to not have. She couldn't sense a lot, but she knew there were three power levels. "Remind me why I've got to wear these sunglasses?"

"They're for later." Trunks said. "It looks like the Time Breakers have just powered him up! Go now!"

Isala soared across Earth's sky, where she saw the scene below. The Namekian standing on the far side of a crater, with the tattered Earthling at the feet of Raditz. A purple aura shimmered around her fellow Saiyan, and part of her was looking forward to the fight that was about to follow. Fighting another Saiyan felt normal, somehow, and it was the first time she'd be able to put her new power to the test.

Raditz was sent flying off of Goku by a pair of Saiyan feet slamming directly into his chest. He backflipped through the air. He caught himself in the air in time to see Isala spinning around, grabbing Goku's arm and pulling him to his feet.

"What?!" Raditz roared, as he raised both of his hands and pink energy swirled around them. "Another survivor?! No matter, stay out of this! It's for your sake!" He cried out, as he brought his hands forward and unleashed two beams that soared straight for Isala. Goku dived under them, catching himself with flight while Isala hefted herself into the air.

Isala didn't deign to reply, instead bursting forward at great speed. The enhanced Raditz ducked under her swinging kick, then grabbed at her tail and squeezed. She smirked, silently thanking Trunks, as she coiled the muscles in her tail and sent Raditz crashing into a ditch in the ground. He couldn't see through the cloud of dirt and rocks, but he didn't need his eyes to feel what came next, as Isala rocketed to the ground and slammed her heels into his knees. There was a sickening crack, and he cried out.

"Nice job! A little vicious, but..that should get them back to an even playing field. Bringing you back now." Trunks' voice came through Isala's sunglasses, and then she disappeared.

Isala found herself standing alongside a group of Earthlings, against the Saiyan General Nappa and Prince Vegeta. Emotions coursed through her, never quite able to settle on anything but rage. Rage at the fact that she'd lost Planet Vegeta. Rage from when she loathed the royalty, the knee-bending Elites. Rage that now she was in a position where she had to fight some of the last remaining Saiyans not long after her home had been destroyed.

The first victims of her anger were the Saibamen, the little green monsters that did nothing but make Saiyan warriors obsolete. She'd always hated them, and she was more than happy to show them their place, even in defense of some random backwater planet she may well have ended up destroying in the Frieza Force, had things not gone as they did. So she enjoyed every skull she crushed, every plant-like bone she broke, even as she had to hold herself back as Trunks voice rung through her head.

Hold back, let this happen, let that happen. It only made her more frustrated, but she did as she was told, focusing on the Saibamen rather than the Elite bastard less than a hundred feet away. The Earthlings tried to address her several times in the fight, apparently baffled by the presence of a Saiyan on their side, but she was told to ignore them unless she had to. And that's what she did, even as they mourned the sudden deaths of their friends.

Then Goku arrived, and the presence of the Time Breakers was made clear. Nappa's form came alight with a haze of purple energy, something that turned the battle into a certain defeat for the freshly-revived Goku. Isala came to his side, but neither of them had much time to acknowledge one another, as Nappa launched himself at them. Isala hit the ground, while Goku blinked behind Nappa. The bulky Saiyan span around, catching Goku's ankle, but found one leg wrapped around his ankles and a firm kick against the back of his knees. As he started to fall, Goku span his other leg round, catching the back of Nappa's head in a kick that sent him all the way to the ground.

Isala kept fighting, keeping an eye out for moments when she could help Goku win, be it blocking blasts or distracting the empowered elite. It wasn't like with Raditz, where she could land a decisive blow to even the ground so soon, but it wasn't fulfilling. There was no time for her to unleash the anger boiling up inside her, and it wasn't being tempered, just capped off. She was there to ensure somebody else's success. That was no way to bring retribution.

The battle went on and it seemed as though things were about to return to normal, as Goku hurled Nappa at Vegeta's feet and the Prince of Saiyans looked down at his defeated comrade. Then purple flashed in Vegeta's eyes, and he hurled his Power Ball into the air.

"Remember the sunglasses?" Trunks asked Isala, as she glared at the sight of the two Elite Saiyans morphing and shifting, their bodies doubling and doubling in size, muscles growing where there had been none. "They're blocking the Blutz Waves. Until we can teach you to control how you take in Blutz Waves, prevent yourself from becoming an Oozaru, we have to use this. Two Great Apes is bad, but three means everyone dies."

"Fine." Isala snarled. "What now?"

"Now...you'll have to kill Nappa." Trunks said. "Vegeta kills him for being weak in the original timeline, so he has to die before you're done here. You might have to go all-out to do it."

For the first time since this fight began, Isala smiled. The fury in her heart blazed to life, and so did her eyes, as she soared high into the air to join the brawl that had just begun. Defeating a Saiyan Elite was going to be glorious, but while he was in Oozaru form? Her heart felt like it was about to pound out of her chest. Instead, her feet pounded his, as she concentrated all of her energy on her legs and slammed into Great Ape Nappa's chest. He stumbled backwards, lashing out at her with a rapid series of punches that she just managed to duck and dive between.

This was the fight she'd been waiting for. Isala waited for his latest flurry to finish, letting all of her power flow through her, then hurled herself upwards, her body spiraling, energy pouring out of every pore. She had the half-Saiyan child to thank for this technique, as she punched straight through the Great Ape's eyeball and out of the other side of his skull. He roared as his eye was destroyed, pain coursing through him.

It was pain unlike any other, so Nappa lashed out, hoping to grab the young woman that had just taken out his eye. His great leathery palm swatted her out of the air, sending her flying into a nearby mountain. His feet pounded the ground as he rushed after her, but she'd landed on her feet and threw herself backwards, leading him away from the fight between Goku and the Great Ape Vegeta. She'd ducked into a valley, he reared back, and energy started coalescing around his maw.

Isala had just a few moments to think. A Great Ape's energy blast was devastating, and while she might be able to block it, she'd just be left more vulnerable to the attacks that would follow. Then, she remembered one of the techniques one of the Earthlings had used. It stuck in her mind like a nail, so she held her hand above her head, concentrated her ki, and found a busszaw of golden energy floating there. She hurled it into the ground.

An orb of blue energy sat in Nappa's jaw. He was just about to unleash the blast when he felt a distinct pain in his foot. Then more and more of it, cutting up and up, tearing apart his muscles like they were little more then butter. He cried out with a deafening roar, the pain forcing him to drop his gathered energy so that it exploded a few inches from his face. He threw himself into the air, watching the golden disk that he'd dodged not long ago suddenly dissipate and leave a thick trail of blood through his left leg.

Then Isala came racing out of the valley. Two orbs of pink energy surrounded her feet as she flew higher and higher, hoping to catch up with the recovering Nappa, until he suddenly spun in the air, his gigantic elbow headed straight for her. She held her arms up in front of her, using spare energy to block as much of the damage as she could, but still it connected. The impact forced the air out of her lungs, they were both crashing through the air, but still she held her arms up.

Just before they hit the ground, the pink spheres around Isala's feet extended into beams that arced and collided with Nappa's already-injured leg. They exploded, searing his flesh, tearing it apart with the stolen technique. He flailed in the air, giving Isala just enough time to launch sideways and soften the effects of her fall. Nappa had no such luck, as all of his weight slammed into the ground and buried him in a crater of rocks.

Isala took a few moments to collect herself, and her energy, while the Great Ape's whimpers echoed through the canyons and valleys. She flew down to where he was partially-buried, trying to pull himself up with his remaining useful limbs. His tail was doing most of the work, but Isala's eyes were drawn to his barely-attached leg. She soared down, gripped it as tightly as she could, and tugged.

Nappa howled, shooting rapid beams of energy from his mouth in an effort to fend off the torturous attack, but he had no lock, as Isala yanked his mighty leg free of his body and soared into the air above him. His whimpers only grew louder as he threw whatever he could at her, but she weaved between his attacks, his leg clutched in her hand, pouring all of her energy into the limb she'd just claimed. She held it high over her head…

And threw it like a javelin.

Nappa's heart was pierced by the mighty throw, and the last thing he saw was the righteous fury etched on Isala's face.

"Mission...accomplished." Trunks said, and then Isala was gone.


	6. Chapter 6: Hearty Meal

Isala was sat in her dome home, with a wide array of food in front of her, all of it prepared by some of Capsule Corp's droids. It tasted better than the simply filling stuff he's made for herself, at least, which meant it was better for the company she was currently keeping.

Trunks was sat across from her at the table, sharing in the meal. While the official debriefing had finished, with the Supreme Kai of Time going over her performance and how well they maintained the timeline, Trunks had suggested they spend some time together as partners. Her first mission was solo, but they'd be working together a lot more in the future and that required rapport. Unlike the last time Trunks was there, she'd been open to talking, so things were going well.

"So, what you did to Nappa." Trunks said, as he pushed aside a particularly meaty bowl and grabbed one with rice and seaweed. "I don't see many people who fight with that kind of...brutality."

"It's how I've always fought." Isala shrugged. "You target a part of the body, crush it, and take advantage of it until you've won. There's not a lot to it."

Trunks nodded as he swallowed his last mouthful. "Is that normal for Saiyans?"

Isala rolled the food around her bowl with chopsticks and took her time chewing it before she answered. "Most people go for decisive blows, to the head, or the heart, or for the full-body beatdown like those Earthlings. I prefer my way, so you know exactly what damage you've done and you've already got a plan for the rest of the fight."

"That makes sense." Trunks said. "But what made you decide to use a different style to the rest of them?"

"I'm small, and young, and that meant I got bullied." Isala said, with an air of practiced nonchalance. "Well, I wasn't going to take it sitting down, but I couldn't really do much by punching or throwing energy blasts the whole time. Never works, does it? So, I just went to the ground when she came after me next. Took out her leg, crippled her for the rest of the fight, and when she didn't stop running her mouth..." She snapped her chopstick and grinned. "No more bullies."

Trunks nodded, despite the disturbing smile on Isala's face. "You became as brutal as you had to be to survive. And you stuck with it after that?"

"Yeah. It works with smaller guys, bigger guys, tougher guys, whatever." Isala snatched up another pair of chopsticks and resumed eating. "Short fights, long fights, even stuff that isn't a fight. It's good for when you're dealing with resistance, too. It's not like most aliens are much of a challenge, but there's always a lot of ground to cover and you want to get the job done quick, right? So you find the toughest guy, take off his arms, and the rest of them stop fighting so well, or at all. It's like, morale, or something."

Trunks tapped his chopsticks on the edge of his bowl, not eating just yet. "Did you ever think about why you were doing what you were doing, destroying planets like that?"

"I knew why; because Frieza said so, so King Vegeta ordered us, so we were doing it." Isala grunted. "Stupid waste of time ordered by two stupid leaders who didn't have anything but their titles and too much power to occupy themselves with. Frieza's dead now, right? He's got to be, if we're in the future or...whatever."

Trunks smirked and nodded. "Frieza's gone, for good. I saw it myself."

"Good." Isala said, though it didn't actually make her feel any better. "Good…"

Trunks cleared his throat. "While you were out there, it seemed like you were...annoyed. Like you were when I first summoned you here. Is there a reason for that?"

"Elite Saiyans? Pricks. Royalty? Pricks." Isala said. "The fact that they were there pissed me off. I didn't want to see their type ever again, I thought that, at least was going to be the saving grace of the whole..." She blinked. "The whole thing." She shook her head. "What's with those Earthlings, anyway? I get that Goku was an infiltration baby, but the kid had a tail too? Where was Goku's wife?"

"That was Gohan." Trunks said fondly. "He's a half-Saiyan, like me. His mother's a human."

"Where's your tail, then?" Isala asked, as she peered around the table just to make sure that there wasn't a tail she'd somehow missed this whole time. "That kid had one. A cut-off one, but still, it was there, right?"

"I wasn't born with one." Trunks admitted. "It has something to do with how genetics work. Sometimes when an Earthling, uh, breeds with a Saiyan, they're born with a tail. Sometimes, they're not, and I wasn't. That's all there is to it."

"Don't you ever wish you had one?" Isala raised an eyebrow at Trunks and grabbed another bowl of soup. "I get it if you still had the weakness, but you taught me how to get out of that. It's a whole new limb to fight with."

"You know, I did wonder sometimes." Trunks said. "I don't think it would suit me well, but maybe that's because I've never seen myself with one. Most of the galaxy fights well with just four limbs, so, I don't think I'm at a disadvantage."

"I'm going to make sure that mine is useful." Isala, having guzzled her bowl of soup, tossed it back, where her tail hit it in the air and it landed among the pile she'd already tossed onto the kitchen counter. "Can I grow it back if somebody tries to cut it off? There's got to be some kind of technology for that now, hasn't there?"

"I'm...not sure." Trunks frowned. "Like I said, you're the only pure Saiyan we have right now, so we haven't had a lot of chances to try. I'll ask around to see if that's something we can do. But you should practice fighting without a tail, just in case."

"Why?" Isala challenged with a skeptical smirk. "Do you practice fighting without an arm?"

"Uh, I guess not? But from what I've seen, if the tail is there, people will go for it."

"Fine, I'll keep it in mind." Isala's tail wrapped around her waist, as though it would protect it from all future attempts at cutting it off. "Y'know, it's something I try to think about anyway? I haven't had to try it, but since I focus on crippling limbs anyway, I've thought a lot about how to...fight myself?"

"Is that so?" Trunks smiled.

"Yeah, like, I mostly fight with kicks, so if my arms get messed up, it wouldn't be too bad, right? But then, if I lose my legs, I mean, I can fly, but that's not actually going to help much. But, I guess I'm more nimble when I've got no legs, so I can use that to my advantage if I'm going to keep fighting with my arms." Isala explained, then quickly downed a mouthful of water. "And if I lose those, I'm dead, most likely. Is that a problem with Time Scrolls?"

"It won't be, most of the time." Trunks said. "We can pull you back to the Time Nest, no problem, but if it gets that serious and we have to, something's gone very wrong somewhere. Most Time Patrollers have less leeway, because they have to use the time machines, but we keep an eye out for each other, and there hasn't been any deaths in the Time Patrol yet."

"None? At all?" Isala's eyes widened.

"None." Trunks said, proudly. "We hope to keep it that way, so make sure you don't take any unnecessary risks while you're out patrolling."

"Hope I won't have to." Isala muttered. "We're going to keep training, aren't we? It's just that, I like patrolling and all, but I'd like to get stronger a lot faster than I have been for the last few years. And I know that training with you got me a lot more powerful than all my time with the Frieza Force, so...can you do it or what?"

"Sure, that's no problem." Trunks said. "We won't have time to train tonight, I've still got to do some things for the Supreme Kai of Time, but if you wake up early we can get a lot more in before your next Time Patrol. Is there anything you want to focus on?"

"New techniques." Isala said, without hesitation. "I saw things on Earh that I don't think I've seen anywhere else. Most people just point their hands and unload a bunch of energy at faces, and among Saiyans, it's mostly a matter of keeping things to yourself so that you can be stronger than everyone else." She noted with a brief wrinkle of her nose. "But the techniques that Raditz used, and that buzzing circle thing?"

"Destructo Disk." Trunks noted.

"That! That was cool. I think I'm going to be using that a lot." Isala noted, as she span her finger and made a tiny destructo disk, which homed in on a plate of vegetables and sliced through them like a potent ki blast through simple plant matter. "I want to learn more about these kinds of things."

"That's something I can help with, definitely." Trunks said. "When did you take the time to learn that, anyway? There wasn't enough time for Krillin to teach you, I know that much."

Isala shrugged. "I paid attention while he was doing it, and I remembered all of the stuff you taught me about sensing ki. It was easy to put together after that."

"Impressive." Trunks smiled. "Not many fighters can mimic techniques so easily. That should make your training a lot easier. I'll try to make a list of techniques that should come in handy and we'll see if you can keep up."

"Isn't there a list somewhere I could use?" Isala asked.

"No...wait, yes." Trunks nodded. "One of the droids made for the academy made a list of techniques, organized by how hard they are, just the other day. I haven't had the time to check it, but, uh, you can maybe look through the simple ones? You can use your personal device to access it if I give you permission." He explained, as he pulled up his holographic screen and flicked through it.

Isala did the same, putting her chopsticks aside until a little notification popped up. "Got it." She said, as she pulled up the list and started to browse. "It says a lot of these are from Earth. I guess that planet's just a hotbed of inventors and stuff."

"They're quite proud of it." Trunks said. "If it weren't for all the creative people there, I don't think we'd have half of the techniques we do. It's not that they're the best – some planets have such powerful or unique techniques that they blow Earth out of the water – but they do have diversity."

"Super Flexible Body..." Isala read out loud. "That seems useful, I guess, if you don't want to learn how to block or dodge things. Sounds like it could mess you up if you aren't prepared for what you're body's going to do…" She flicked further down. "Thunder Shock Surprise? Who comes up with these names? It seems useful, I guess..." She said, as Trunks put down his personal device. "Wait, what?" She laughed.

"What is it?" Trunks asked.

"There's a technique called Irome. Seems like it's just seducing somebody, and it has an instructional video. What kind of pervert would add this?" She snickered. "Oh, and Stripping?"

"That shouldn't be in there..." Trunks frowned, as he shifted around the table to peer at Isala's screen. His face drained of color.

"Inventor: Bulma Briefs. I guess she has a high opinion of herself, huh?"

"I'll, uh, I'll just make a list." Trunks said, as he quickly pulled up his personal device and removed Isala's permission to access it. "And send that droid for reprogramming. Okay, bye now, see you tomorrow!"

Trunks ran away.


	7. Chapter 7: A Past Overview

Isala found herself sitting at the table inside the Supreme Kai of Time's house, her legs under her and a tea set in front. She hadn't expected it to be almost exactly the same as her personal dome home, but here it was, just with a slightly different scale and actually having been lived in.

"This is a nice place." Isala commented, as she watched SKoT pour her a cup of tea. "How long have you been living in here?"

"Oh, you know, not long?" SKoT answered with a flash of a smile at the Saiyan. "I saw that everyone else was getting one and thought that I deserved one, too. I've still got my original house, a real one for Kais, but don't you think this is much more relaxing if I have guests?"

"Yeah, I guess." Isala said, going silent as she reached out for the offered cup of tea and sipped it. It was as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a two-edged sword. She'd rather not have drunk it, but she didn't have the energy to complain as she downed the rest of the cup. "Is that it?" She asked, raising her eyebrow at SKoT.

She giggled and shook her head. "Oh, no. I came ready for Saiyans." She said, as she lifted up the teapot, poured Isala another cup, and then gave it a shake. It sounded like waves crashing against an ocean. "Being a Kai has its benefits, you know." She winked. "The sweets were a little tougher, but I've got a team of droids working on it. You can eat all you like!" She promised, then leaned forward to rest her chin on her hands as she gazed at Isala.

"Right, thanks. I didn't really know that other races ate less." Isala said, as she tossed a couple of cupcakes into her mouth and started chewing them down. They were gone within seconds.

"I didn't think you would." SKoT said. "It's said that the reason Saiyans haven't colonized is that not a lot of planets can sustain a planet of Saiyans without running out of food. Sadala and Vegeta were the only ones with enough natural nutrition and fertile soil to sustain them."

Isala drank another cup of tea to give herself a moment to think, then shrugged. "I don't know about that. I was a warrior, not a foodologist, and we didn't really eat anything on the planets we went to. I guess it makes sense?"

SKoT nodded. "Did you ever do things on the planets you went to? Aside from destroying them, I already know all about that."

"Not...really." Isala said. "We'd stop to plan, if we had to, but that was all there was to it."

"So you never found anything you liked while you were there. That's...kind of sad." SKoT noted, her gaze traveling down to where Isala's hands were wrapped around the handle of her mug. Her grip wasn't quite as sure as she seemed to be. "Don't you think?"

"I don't know." Isala forced herself to down another cup of tea, so the Supreme Kai would have to pour her another one, but the pink woman didn't seem to want to drop it so easily. "I tried not to focus on it, much. There wasn't anything interesting to do on those planets, nobody to fight. It was just like putting on your clothes."

"Do you think you would have seen some cool things, if you were paying attention?" SKoT frowned. "It must have been sad to have so much to explore, but the only place you ever went was inside your own head. There must have been some part of you that wanted to know what was there."

"I don't think there was." Isala glanced off to the side. "There were only things to kill."

"I see..." The Kai took a sip of her own tea and mulled over the flavor. "What do you think Frieza was thinking, when he destroyed Vegeta?"

Isala froze where she sat. She'd had a bad feeling about this conversation from the start, and now it was veering all too close to the things that kept her up at nights, that plagued her mind whenever she didn't occupy it with something else. Her instinct was to punch the Supreme Kai in the face, but she knew she didn't really want to do that. It wouldn't even help her escape, just make sure that everyone else knew how much this was affecting her.

"I don't know." Isala admitted, a beast lurking in her voice.

"Do you think that he was thinking the kind of things that you thought, when you were destroying planets?" The Supreme Kai met Isala's eyes, earnest empathy meeting uncomfortable anger. "That it was just some planet...filled with things to kill, nothing to see or do, nothing worth thinking about?"

"I don't know."

"Huh." The Supreme Kai took a bite out of one of the cakes, then nudged the tray towards Isala. She didn't take anything from it, just kept her hands on her lap, clenched into fists. "Would you have liked to know?"

"No!" Isala snapped. "He's a tyrant and an evil bastard who deserves whatever death he got! The only thing I want to know is what it would have felt like to kill him myself!" She said, slamming her fist on the table. The objects jumped off, then floated easily back to where they sat.

The Supreme Kai nodded kindly and reached out, placing her hand over Isala's fist. Her knuckles were pure white against her already pale skin, but the grip faded slightly under the smaller woman's touch. Her blood boiled just a little less at the first touch that felt familiar somehow. Like it was meant just for her

"Do you think that any of the people on the planets you destroyed might have felt the same way about you, Isala?" The Supreme Kai asked softly.

"I don't...think so..." Isala couldn't keep looking at the Supreme Kai's eyes, so she just let her gaze fall. "I was just doing my job."

"Would the loss of your people hurt any less, if it hadn't been Frieza, but somebody working for him?" The Supreme Kai asked.

Isala grunted, feeling tears start to come to her eyes, then shook her head. "It would still feel like this."

The Supreme Kai nodded and ran her thumb across Isala's palm, a soothing touch and a reminder of her presence. "I think they would have felt the same way as you do now. Wouldn't they?" Isala stared at nothing, then slowly nodded.

"They were weak anyway..." Isala muttered. "Somebody would have done it…"

"Do you really believe that?"

"I don't know..."

The Supreme Kai shifted around the edge of the table, so that she was sat beside Isala, and looked up at her to try to catch her gaze. She eventually found it and offered her a smile.

"Why don't you tell me some of the things you love about Vegeta?" The Supreme Kai asked. "I can tell that you miss it. When you're lonely, talking about what you like, about what you're missing, can help. Just a little."

"I'm not lonely..." Isala scowled stubbornly.

"Still."

"I liked the sky the most." Isala recalled. "It was this beautiful shade of red, and I saw it all the time. I remember it being there when I was a kid, when I was training, and it kind of made it like it didn't matter if I won or lost. If I won, then I'd won. And if I'd lost, I'd be on my back, looking at the sky, and it was always there, kind of, comforting me, y'know?" The memories came to her like water down a river. "It didn't matter if I lost, because the sky would still be there." She winced. "I sound stupid..."

"No, tell me more about it." The Supreme Kai said. "It sounds like a wonderful place."

Isala sniffled, the comforting rhythm of the Supreme Kai's thumb on her palm serving as a bastion against the feelings that threatened to overwhelm her. "You should have seen the sandy plains...they shimmered like they were on fire, and we'd always train on it. Everything you did had an impact, an effect. If you threw someone down, they'd skid and send up a cloud of sand. It'd rise whenever you'd charge your ki, and flow around your blasts. It...it felt like you were part of it. Part of the planet. Part of the Saiyan race."

"So it helped you feel like one of your own people, huh?" The Supreme Kai said.

"Yeah, everyone used it." A sad smile flickered across Isala's lips. "You could just fly up and see everyone training. From little kids to trained warriors to people who'd gotten old, giving the young an earful about all the things they didn't know. Even the bakers, the scientists, people like that? They'd get in on it, too. You'd see them after they left their boring jobs, heading out to the sand to spar and feel like they were living like Saiyans." She felt a hot tear roll down her cheek.

"I miss it so much." She finally admitted, a sob coming to her voice. "I wish I was there. That, that none of this had happened." Another few tears fell. "I wake up and I want to pretend that I can just, walk up to a window and open it and I'd see that sky waiting for me. Or walk into another room and see one of my...my friends and talk about whatever. B-But I can't, I won't, I just want to curl up in a ball and..."

Isala started crying and the Supreme Kai gently shifted, allowing the Saiyan's head to rest on her lap and sob for as long as she had to. She placed her other hand on Isala's head, gently stroking her messy black hair. The poured tea got colder and colder until Isala fell silent, her tears having faded and nothing filling the room but the sound of them breathing.

"It's okay to be sad." The Supreme Kai told Isala, smiling as she looked down at her. "And miss all of those things. You don't have to keep it to yourself, okay? You can come visit me whenever you feel like that and I'll even cook you something myself, and we can talk about it, or not, whatever you want! Would you like that?"

Isala nodded slowly, a significant part of her wanting to get up to preserve her dignity, to make it seem like she hadn't just broken down In front of her boss. But another part of her didn't care. "...yeah, that sounds nice."

"I think so, too." The Supreme Kai giggled, as she shot a little beam of energy at each of their cups of tea so that they were steaming again. "Let's enjoy the rest of our teatime. I bet the kitchen staff have made way too many cakes for even you to eat by now!" She laughed.

"Yeah. Okay." Isala said, not getting up even as the Supreme Kai sipped her tea.

SKoT put down her cup and met the eyes of the woman whose head was still in her lap. "Well, if you're not getting up, you might as well stay here for the night. You should be able to fit in my bed, and if you want to sleep naked, I don't mind."

Isala nodded. "Okay. Yeah, I think I'll do that." She said. "I'll make breakfast or something."

"Oh, no! I'm the host, so I'll make breakfast." SKoT promised. "Not everyone can say they've had breakfast specially made by the Supreme Kai of Time, so consider yourself lucky!"


	8. Chapter 8: The Bootprints of All Saiyans

Isala stood on the soft soil of Namek, which was green as far as her eyes could see. She hopped up and down a couple of times, testing the gravity and frowning.

"Lots of power levels here..." She muttered, just before Trunks' voice appeared in her ear and she started gliding up for a better view of their surroundings.

"Hey! Your target is, uh, Vegeta." Trunks said, instantly seizing Isala's interest. "He's almost got all of Namek's Dragon Balls, and it's up to Gohan to steal one and stop him. But, Vegeta's just received a power upgrade from the people meddling in time. He'll get there before Gohan's stole one of them. It's up to you to stop him, and beat that upgrade out of him."

Isala cracked her knuckles, her eyes narrowing at the horizon as she did so. "That's not gonna be a problem." She promised, as old thoughts flashed to the forefront of her mind. This wasn't actually going to help her at all, but it was going to be extremely satisfying to knock the pride out of some incompetent royalty.

"...right. We've put you exactly the path Vegeta will be crossing, so it's only a matter of time. Remember, he's more powerful than you might remember, and this time he has a boost. We'll pull you out if we have to, but still."

"Uh huh, sure." Isala said, as she flexed her power to the tips of all of her limbs and let her anger flow to the forefront of her mind.

"Uh. Remember, you can't kill Vegeta. This is important."

"I get it!" Isala snapped at Trunks. It was at this point that a distraction rocketed into view, in the form of a Saiyan prince clad in blue with a dragon ball tucked under his arm. She flew down to his level, every muscle in her body tensing up as he got closer and closer, until she could just about start to lunge at him.

Then he stopped dead in mid-air. His eyes narrowed at the Saiyan standing opposite him, his grip on the Dragon Ball tightening. "And who are you meant to be?" He asked, his voice laced with arrogance.

Isala didn't answer, instead growling as she pounced at the former Prince. He dived beneath her rabid lunge, landing on the ground and spinning to hurl his Dragon Ball across the horizon. He dodged to the side as Isala speared down, her boots cracking the ground where he'd just been standing. He span around, his arm coiled like a spring, which shot straight into Isala's gut as his faint purple aura flared to life.

The smaller Saiyan wheezed at the fist buried in her gut, but didn't take her gaze off of Vegeta's for a moment. She grabbed for his arm, but he kept it buried where it was. Energy started to coalesce around his limb while it was stuck into her abs.

"I didn't know there were any other survivors. I'd have hoped they would be tougher than a weakling like you." Vegeta mused aloud. "Perhaps I'll let you live, if you can survive this."

Isala's tail darted between her legs, wrapped around Vegeta's wrist, and yanked it into the ground. He stumbled forwards while Isala slammed her knee into his temple and he grunted hard, clenching his fist despite it being buried in the ground. She started to rapidly swing her knees at his right shoulder, hitting it again and again until Vegeta unleashed a blast right into the ground that sent the pair of them flying away from each other among a cloud of yellow.

"So you're not entirely worthless." Vegeta chuckled darkly, as Isala's power level rose closer to its true strength. "But you'll have to do better than that if you want to keep me from my prize." He said, as he brought his hands together at his side and suddenly thrust them forwards. A purple column emerged from his palms, headed straight towards Isala.

She leaped backwards, creating enough space for blue spheres to surround her hands before she brought them together for a beam that met Vegeta's in mid-air. The energy swirled and crackled as it met, endlessly shifting even as Isala soared higher into the air, each of them keeping their focus on the struggle, pouring all the energy they could into their attacks. Vegeta's confidence slowly turned into a scowl, while Isala's had long been set in rage.

Isala started to close the gap. Her beam did not overpower Vegeta's, but she moved closer with it in hand. The mutlicolored laser got shorter as she flew closer, the power they were each pouring into it getting brighter and casting the surrounding Namek in in an almost blinding light. She pushed herself closer and closer, until there was barely ten feet between them and they couldn't even see each other through the massive sphere of ki between them.

Then she released her grasp on her energy. Vegeta's poured into the sphere, sending a beam that soared across the horizon as a smirk came to his face...one that quickly vanished as he spotted the Saiyan that had slipped beneath the orb and grabbed both of his ankles. The momentum of her flight was transferred to her body, as she swung her legs up and both of her boots met the most vulnerable parts of Vegeta's body.

Vegeta cried out in pain, even as his armor helped distribute the force over his torso, and pushed both of his palms flat against the woman floating beneath him. He poured his faded reserves of energy into a series of rapid attacks, before she could do the same, forcing her to release him lest she receive a few hundred ki blasts to the face.

Still catching his breath, holding back his groans, Vegeta span around to face the troublesome Saiyan. "Have you no concern for the future of the Saiyan race?" He growled at his silent opponent, who simply glowered and rushed forward once more. Her boot found the center of his chest, sending the Prince hurtling backwards, while she rushed to keep up with him with a flurry of kicks to his right shoulder.

They eventually landed, Vegeta skidding across the mucky ground of Namek until flipping back over to his feet and catching Isala by the tail in the split second it took for her to slow down. He slammed her into the ground on her back and dipped low as she bounced, using both feet to kick her in the back and sending her soaring into the air. One of his arms was aching, but still he shot after her and brought both of them up, slamming her back towards the ground with an overhead swing.

Isala hit the ground with a grunt, sending a spray of mud across the surrounding countryside. She groaned, blinking passed the pain that ached dully across her torso, and just managed to sense the power in Vegeta's fingertips. She coiled up, focusing her ki on protecting herself just as an explosion surrounded her and the stench of burned grass filled the air.

She took the chance to scuttle out of the crater her falling body had made, having to dodge the hail of ki blasts that Vegeta sent to chase her, then darted high into the air. The volley followed her, but she pirouetted and sent herself crashing towards Vegeta, flicking aside the weak blasts as she went. The Prince gritted his teeth, clenched his right fist, and focused his power into his left hand for a mighty swing…

That met nothing but air, as Isala stopped a couple of feet away from Vegeta and performed a backflip with one foot extended. A sphere of energy had been building there, hid behind her silhouette against the sun, and exploded. Vegeta was knocked backwards, while Isala's momentum had taken her right back to facing him.

Isala lunged at the stunned Vegeta, twisting her body around his and latching her legs around his arm, locking it in place with her thighs while her hands seized the rest of it. Vegeta's eyes widened, his left arm lashing out to protecting his other arm, but was halted by Isala's tail seizing its wrist.

"No!" Vegeta roared. Isala snarled and cranked his elbow as far as it would go, separating the elbow and sending pain shooting through the empowered Saiyan's body. She kept her grip focused tightly, torturing the Prince with the pain, before she finally released the crippled limb and hurled him to the ground with her tail.

Isala caught her breath while she watched the crippled Vegeta land in a crater of his own, clutching at his right arm and writhing in pain. It was satisfying to watch him, and to get a chance to recover from some of the aching pain shooting through her. She watched Vegeta force his arm back into place, but she knew the damage was done. He deserved it for everything he hadn't done, for the things he did, and now, for damaging her battlesuit, her one memento of home.

The part of her that wanted to keep wailing on the injured Prince was vindicated as sparks of white energy started to surround the fallen Vegeta. A blast of crystalline power surged where she stood, barely giving her enough time to dodge the bulk of the blast, but she could feel the power rippling off of it all the same.

Vegeta launched himself upwards, chopping Isala in the ribs with his remaining good hand and following it up with a palm to the gut. "You will not steal my destiny!" He cried out, as a spout of blue ki poured out of his palm and dissipated, leaving behind a thoroughly scorched Isala who fell slowly to the ground.

The Prince didn't stop his attack even then, as flames licked around his left hand and he sent them careening towards Isala, his own body right behind. She managed to dodge out of the way of the fire, but not Vegeta, who swung his leg around for a kick aimed at the back of her head. It struck true, forcing her to stumble forwards and get tackled to the ground.

Vegeta swung his left fist at Isala's face again and again, trying to jab it into submission as he attempted to climb atop her, pin her arms to the ground. It hit her again and again, maing her gasp and grunt in pain with every hit, until her tail wrapped around Vegeta's neck and tightened around it. A field of white energy surrounded Vegeta, creating just enough space that her tail could no longer contort around his throat.

Now pinned, Isala's tail hit the ground and, along with her legs and arms, managed to force Vegeta around with some small struggle. He was beneath her, one arm crippled, both legs in the air. He made a grab for her throat, which she leaned back to avoid, then hopped up into the air and slammed both of her boots down on his skull. She darted into the air, just about avoiding a grab for her ankle, and glared a hole in Vegeta's face as he clambered back to his feet.

Isala brought her palms together, focusing her ki between them. Purple energy flashed into existence around her, then around them, forming a ball. Vegeta's grimace only grew as recognition flashed in his mind. She hovered above him, scorched, beaten, and bloody, pouring all of her anger into the stolen technique until it just about reached its boiling point – then unleashed the attack.

Vegeta fell unconscious and the purple ki made way to his purple aura, which faded just as quickly.

Isala allowed herself a few moments to lavish in the sight of the fallen Prince, then felt the familiar tugging of time and disappeared from Namek.


	9. Chapter 9: An Android From Earth

Isala was sat in the waiting room of the doctor's office; something that had he shifting uncomfortably in her seat. She had spent a lot of time being tended to by medics, in healing tanks, and she'd even been for a check-up here before, but there had been no waiting then. Now she was simply waiting to be tended to, so this Doctor could check her body was damaged in a way that a healing tank couldn't fix.

She didn't even feel bad, save for the usual bruising and injuries that could be expected from a tough battle, but those had faded thanks to a dip in the tank and one of the weird capsules capsules she'd been given.

But at least she wasn't alone, she frowned to hear her herself thinking, as she noticed somebody else sitting with her in the doctor's dome. She was much taller than her, still as lean, but without Isala's definition. She had white hair, green eyes, and distinctly flat hair –not really enough to go on.

"Hey." Isala said to the other girl, looking up from under her sedge hat. It was distinct for being the only part of her current attire, her battlesuit, that wasn't covered in scorches and stretches of thinner fabric. "You're an Earthling, right?" Not a Saiyan?"

The girl pulled the buds out of her ears nodded at Isala. "Hey, that's right." She paused, her sharp eyes catching sight of Isala's tail. "Whoa, wai' a moment, aren' you Isala? Trunks' par'ner? The original Saiyan?"

Isala blinked and scratched her cheek. "Yeah, that's me, I guess. I'm not used to being called that, but compared to everyone else here..." The pride in her heart struggled to overcome the overbearing weight. "I suppose I am the original Saiyan. How about that?"

"It's nothing to sneeze a'." The stranger laughed. "I don' wan to sound like a fangirl or anything, but, you're pretty cool in my books. How're you se'ling in?" She asked, as she smoothed down her skirt with a manicured nail.

"It's good, it's good." Isala half-truthed. "It's kind of weird to...know there are so many half-Saiyans around and not know who's who or what and whether or not they're actually, like, connected, to what I know?" She explained, before catching herself revealing too much. Perhaps the recent aches of battle were making her babble. "The best idea I've got is punching them and seeing if they want to fight."

"Yacould always look them up on the da'abase...no, wai', tha's creepy." The other girl laughed. "Sorry, I'm no' much help, huh? But wha' I am is Reyki, and it's nice to mee' ya." She held her hand out to Isala, who stared for a moment before shaking it.

"You Earthlings have weird names."

"Ya King was li'erally named after vegetables, so ya don' ge' to cri'icize." Reyki pointed out with an accusatory finger. "Bu', I guess tha's no' fair. We've had dogs as Kings, so, I wouldn' say monarchy is anyone's strong sui'."

"I completely agree." Isala smirked.

"Nice, nice." Reyki nodded. "No' tha' I'm all the way an Earthling. I'm an Android, ya see."

"What does that mean?" Isala raised an eyebrow at the other young woman.

"I' means tha' I've gone through several procedures to turn me in'o a biomechanical Earthling instead of a regular Earthling – I say regular, we're abou' as varied as one planet can ge', My skin's tougher, muscles, I've go' an infini'e energy reserve. I's a pre'y swee' deal, if ya willing to go for i'."

Isala furrowed her brow. "Why is every Earthling not an Android?"

"Wow, tha's a bigger question than you'd think." Reyki laughed. "There's the money, of course; comple'ely rebuilding an Earthling is hard and has a lo' of tech involved. Finding somebody to do i', because the science has a bad reputation, and tha's also par' of why people don' wan' i'. I's qui'te horrible to think abou', having your whole body broke down and pu' back together again. And the bigges' one is tha' i's only useful for figh'in, really."

"Saiyans would be all over that." Isala said, considering for a moment just how much tougher they would be if that were the case. She brought herself out of her daydreaming by reminding herself that she didn't actually know how much stronger it would make somebody. "You took it because you wanted to fight, right?"

"I...sor' of?" Reyki shook her head. "I's not something I talk abou' with jus' anyone, bu' I guess you're alrigh'." She flashed a smile. "I was born withou' everything in the righ' place, a condition tha' mean' I wouldn' be able to walk properly, ge' around, bump in'o something withou' sha'ering every bone in my body." She laughed. "So no' the tough girl y'see righ before ya. Tech only did so much, so I was kind of screwed."

"Bu', one day, I was in the hospi'al, watching reruns of old figh's and saw wha' those guys could do. And I though' to myself: Those guys are flying and I'm stuck in a bed cha'ing with nurses, ge'ing my nails done and being miserable. No' that I mind being fashionable," She tugged on her stylish blue jacket. "Bu', I wan'ed to meet some of those martial ar'ists and see whether they could do anything for me. And they could."

"Hmph." Isala said. "On Vegeta, you'd have been lucky to live if you were born like that."

Reyki scowled. "Well, on Vege'a, I'd be dead like the res' of them, wouldn't I?"

Isala's nostrils flared, she clenched her fists, and stared at the ground. "...nevermind. Go on."

"Righ'." Reyki nodded. "Sorry, i's jus'...so, these guys, the New Crane School, they weren' willing to take me on at firs', being half dead and all, but one of the masters there saw me causing a fuss and agreed to teach me for a month. If I could walk across the hall by myself, no injuries, by the end, he'd take me on. And I did, and he did, so I star'ed using ki to help me deal with my condition. Then, one day, the Supreme Kai of Time showed up and offered me a fix."

"Now, I was scared ou' of my wi's, but she looked the type to know a lo' about ki. Short, pointy ears, weird skin, fancy old clothes? Guaranteed ki-master. She took me through the process, gave me a choice, blah, blah, so I wen' for it. It's not been long now, bu' I feel be'er than ever." Reyki grinned. "Best of all is being able to be normal for once."

Isala nodded slowly, absorbing Reyki's tale, then looked up to catch her eyes. "So you chose to stop being a real Earthling and now you're happy with how you are? Don't you think that makes you too different to keep being one?"

"...nah." Reyki shook her head. "Being an Earthling isn' abou' wha' ya body's made of, it's abou' what ya carry in ya hear'." She tapped her chest. "Ya could turn my skin in'o rocks and my muscles in'o magma and I'll still know where I came from and what means the mos' to me. Being an Android isn' going to stop me from enjoying anything about being an Earthling. It's go'a be the same for you, righ'? You're an original Saiyan, regardless of the sta'e Vege'a's in."

"Yeah." Isala said, though her heart wasn't in it. "I guess."

Reyki licked her lips, stared at Isala, then leaned back in her seat. "Anyway, the only person I've me' who has a problem with i' is your par'ner. No' tha' he le's it be obvious or anything, but I can tell he doesn't like being around me much. The Supreme Kai says it's because of something in his past, and me being here will help him get over i', and I trust her more than most to know wha's best."

"What do you think you'd feel if Earth was destroyed?" Isala asked. "Would you still know all of those things you do now?"

"Uh, I'm no' sure." Reyki laughed. "I suppose i'd be hard for a while seeing as I'd need to change jus' about everything in my life, and, uh, I'd...I'd jus' try to keep the best things about Earth going while I was around. I wasn' anyone impor'an' while I was there and I'm not tha' no'eworthy now, no' ye', bu' I think the bes' thing I could do is take the par's I loved the mos' and keep them going."

"Why?" Isala asked.

"Because...I like i'?" Reyki shrugged. "If I like the place I was a', i's only righ' that I keep wha' I liked going and see if anyone else would like i' too. And I think all of the people tha' didn't survive would wan' the same – seeing as they wouldn' have the chance to. And there are a lo' of things abou' Earth worth keeping around."

"Do you think that there are a lot of other planets that would feel the same?" Isala asked. "Not just Earth?"

"Yeah, I think there are." Reyki said. "I' seems like some planets migh' be filled with too many evil people to be worth keeping around, but that's a lo' of nonsense in my opinion. Some of history's greates' heroes have been bad people who were given a chance to stop being tha' way. And you don' have to be a hero to be impor'ant or worth keeping around. Look a' me – I wouldn' even be here if i' weren' for the Supreme Kai of Time, or the New Crane School, seeing something in a weak li'le girl."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Isala went silent as her mind delved into all of the worlds she'd visited, all of the lives she'd taken. Before, it had just been her own world, her own horrible memories, but since the time she spent with the Supreme Kai, she was thinking about them. And the things she'd done. It helped to make her angry, but it wasn't the pure rage she'd felt for her King, or the Emperor. It was fuel, but it came with pollution.

They sat there in silence for a few moments, then Reyki's wrist beeped to call her into the doctor's office. "Here I go." She said, pulling herself to her feet and smiling down at Isala. "It was nice talking with ya, Isala. Do ya mind if we talk again some other time?"

Isala managed to smile back at the taller girl. "No, if you can find me, we can talk, if you want."

"Grea'." Reyki said. "Hey, would you mind standing up real quick?" She asked, as her wrist beeped once more and she tapped it with her other finger. "I wan' to check something."

"Uhh...yeah, why not?" Isala said, as she stood up. The height difference between them was even more pronounced, which wasn't something that bothered her. It just meant there was more limb to break. "But if you're trying to get your perv on, Avada's got that covered."

"What? No, no." Reyki laughed. "Ya a real Saiyan, aren' ya?"

"Of course I am." Isala said.

Reyki opened her mouth to speak, then threw a punch at Isala's face. The Saiyan dodged to the side of it and back-flipped where she stood, sending the point of her boot straight into the Android's jaw. The latter stumbled backwards and Isala was already leaping at her again.

"Whoa, hey, hey!" Reyki grinned, as she did her best to block the blows. "I was jus' checking if ya were a Saiyan." She said, as the gap in Isala's assault allowed her to rub her jaw. "Tha's ya method, righ'?"

Isala's mind flicked back to their conversation and she shook her head with a smirk. "Go to the Doctor before I throw you in there."


	10. Chapter 10: Time to Reflect

The city loomed all around Isala. From horizon to horizon was a sea of clumped-together buildings, between which people skittered like ants. The view was interrupted only by the great screw-like pillars embedded in the ground below, their rungs filled with other houses, other people, while at the top sat the rest of the city. Between its layers, she could just catch bright lights, the zooming of updated tech, while looking below, all she could hear was yelling and see the rickety ladders that allowed the trough-dwellers to traverse their own homes.

"This planet sucks." Isala announced to the woman who stood beside her. While Isala might just have fit in, with her battleworn battlesuit, the Supreme Kai of Time stood out like a sore thumb in her pristine Kai gear. "Why are we here?"

"We're her for a very important lesson." The Supreme Kai told Isala, smiling as she took her hand and flew towards one of the pillars. The Saiyan initially resisted the attempt, but relented and followed beside her. "Remember what we talked about before, when we had tea?"

"...yeah." Isala glared at nothing in particular, as they drifted closer to the pillar and she got a closer look at the various denizens. There were only a handful of each kind that matched, all scrambling across each other like rats in the rush to get to their homes. They could scarcely be called that, since they seemed to her to be little more than makeshift walls that provided their denizens with only the privacy a pair of curtains could provide.

"That's what we're here for!" The Supreme Kai flew closer to one of the pillars and pulled open the curtains. The interior of the apartment was little more than a nest of materials, a crate filled with all manners of clothing, and a stack of bowls that seemed to have been licked clean. The only thing that didn't serve for sitting on was a small gray device that sat on the floor, whirring faintly while It projected a 3d image above itself.

It displayed a series of clips of the Frieza Force diving through atmospheres, training together, unleashing ki blasts. It was interspersed with phrases like "The Frieza Force's Finest", "Find money. Find purpose. Find a whole new life." and "Glory to Frieza!". Isala wrinkled her nose, and not just because of the metallic scent lingering in the air. The image quality eventually degraded as it came upon a clip of her and her old squad, turning some city to molten slag, then started again.

"You took me here to see some stupid video?" Isala asked, as she turned away from the repeating image to face the Supreme Kai. "What kind of lesson is this meant to be? Oh, by the way, you worked for him, did you know that, because look, here's proof. I know, okay?!" She clenched her fist tightly, resisting the urge to blow something up while the Supreme Kai smiled up at her.

"I know you know, Isala. That's not why you're here. He is." The Supreme Kai stepped to the side, revealing a figure climbing up the ladder to the apartment. He was about four foot tall, as stout as he was tall, with four two-fingered arms and a face embedded into his torso. He was clad in a pair of pants attached to his sleeves, patchworked together, and he wiped his brow as he pulled himself into his apartment.

His eyes drifted between the two strangers in the apartment and settled on Isala. He stood there for a coupe of moments, then screeched, clasping his four hands over his mouth and trembling. His tremors got worse and worse, his head shaking as he tried to tear his eyes away from Isala, but they couldn't. His eyes started to turn bloodshot as he crumpled to his knees, whimpering and sobbing at the mere sight of her.

Isala watched the rapid breakdown of the stranger with a mix of unease and annoyance. "What the...what's this guy's problem?" She asked, glaring back at him as she folded her arms.

"He's scared. I think he's been scared for a very long time." The Supreme Kai said, as she stepped up beside the panicking stranger and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. Just a sliver of his discomfort was soothed, but still he shuddered under the touch. "Don't you recognize him?"

Isala stared at the creature for a few moments longer, before something flickered in front of her mind. "Yeah...hang on, isn't he a Thraskian?" She asked, and took a step closer. The stranger stumbled backwards with a cry, closer to the edge, and she stopped. "For crying out...yeah, he's a Thraskian. I..." She hesitated. "I wiped out his planet with my team. So, what, this one got away?"

The Supreme Kai nodded. "He was just coming back when you arrived on Planet Thrask. He saw what you were doing to his people, and he escaped." She said, faintly stroking the frozen Thraskian's shoulder. "And he's been very brave every day since then. Haven't you...um...what's your name?" She asked, interrupting his gaze with her own.

"T...Torian." The Thraskian uttered, his voice flanging and weak. "I'm Torian."

"I'm Chronoa." The Supreme Kai introduced herself, then gestured to Isala. "And this is Isala. She's a Saiyan."

Torian's eyes flickered between the pair of them, his heart slowing and his voice steadying. "She...she killed my people. My family." Isala looked to the side.

"I know." Chronoa nodded. "And I know you haven't been able to stop thinking about them, have you?" She asked, as the light of the projector lit up the man's face. He shook his head. "How have you been coping since then? You've got your own place to live. I bet you've got a job. You're still alive. There's got to be something keeping you so strong."

"I must keep living." Torian said, with conviction in his voice for the first time. "When a Thraskian dies, it is said that their afterlife is determined by how well their family lives. It is something my father always told me. Torian, you must succeed. For your grandmother. For your little cousin. For all the family. So I became a pilot. I worked hard. Made my family proud. And now all of my family is gone. And they all must rely on Torian." He clasped his arms around himself. "I must keep living."

Chronoa smiled while Isala's frown deepened. "It sounds like you're doing good, Torian. Is that why you keep that here?" She asked, pointing at the projector. "To remind you to keep strong?"

"Yes." Torian nodded. "But...Lorxa, she says I spend too much time with it. We play chess to get me away from the projector. She says I do not get more moves, for having more arms, but it seems fair to me." He chuckled sadly and chanced a look at Isala, then looked back down. "You seem kind, but why did you bring that monster here?" He asked, his voice trembling. "It hurts to look..."

"I brought Isala here because she isn't a monster. She's just going through some tough times, like you." Chronoa said.

"She cannot know times like me..."

Isala clenched her fist tighter.

"Isala knows exactly what you're going through." Chronoa asserted. "Because the thing that happened to you? It happened to her, too. She was there when her home planet was destroyed. She's the last Saiyan."

"Good."

"Good?!" Isala snarled at the kneeling man, as tears built up in the corners of her burning eyes. "Nothing about this is good! Every time I close my eyes, I watch my friends die! I hear the screams of an entire planet, and every one of them that came before it! It's not a good thing. It will never be a good thing!"

Torian looked into Isala's eyes and shook his head. "Forgive me. I did not realize...did not think. I cannot stop hating you. But nobody deserves to feel the way I do. Or you do. Nobody." He looked at his trembling hands and sighed. "Please leave. People are on their way to see me."

Chronoa nodded. "Thank you, Torian. But, one more thing before we go." She said, as she pulled down one of Torian's sleeves to reveal an arm painted in cuts, old and new, the flesh between them bruised blacker than night. "Who did this to you?"

Torian's mouth bobbed in search of an answer, then he sighed. "It is...local creature. They call themselves Hammerscrew, head of Hammerscrews. They heard of me being a pilot, and wanted my help. They wanted to hurt people, and I will not. So they went to where I work, the taxi service, and they beat me. Take money. When I do not have money, they take my belongings." His eyes drifted over his mostly-empty apartment. "When I do not give that, they hurt me." The sound of scraping echoed up into the apartment. "They come. Leave. Please."

"Well...I guess we could. But first, let me give you a hand for being a good host, even though we just dropped in." Chronoa said, as she placed her hand on Torian's shoulder and a green glow surrounded him. It took just a few moments for his flesh to knit together, sealing the cuts as though they'd never been there. The black bruises faded, turning back to healthy blue flesh as Torian's eyes widened at the sudden lack of pain. "All better." She giggled. "Well, Isala, do you think we should go now?"

Isala stared at the wounds that had just canvased Torian's arms, his words and his pleading and his panic fresh in her mind. Her tears had been held back, but her fist was still clenched, and she shook her head.

"No. Not yet." Isala flexed her fingers. "I want to meet this Hammerscrew first." She said, as she stepped passed Torian and he stood up, quickly moving deeper into the single-room apartment.

"Please, don't, they're dangerous." Torian pleaded. "Even for a Saiyan, the-"

Torian was interrupted by the loudest scrape yet, as a figure crawled over the edge of the apartment. They were seven feet tall, their skin a spindly metallic carapace that was vaguely humanoid, save for the digitigrade legs that ended in piercing spikes that dragged as they moved. Their face was made of several moving parts, resembling a face but not nearly so fluid. When they spoke, it was in a muffled screech.

"We've come for you, Torian. Your money or your flesh." Hammerscrew said, as they held up an oversized hand tipped with razors.

"No." Isala said, as she stood before the much taller creature.

"No?" Hammerscrew chuckled. "Do you know how thi-" They were interrupted by its right arm being torn off in an instant. They squealed while Isala crumpled it up into a tiny ball, then turned it to ash with a blast of energy. "You da-" They were once more stopped, as Isala hopped up and dropkicked them in the center of their chest. They flew backwards, arcing over the horizon. Just as they would have crashed into another pillar, she was behind them, and stomped them down into the ground.

Their unnatural voice echoed through the district until they hit the ground, their chest caved in thanks to Isala's boots. She leaned down where she stood, her eyes boring holes into theirs.

"Be good." Isala said, as a little golden disc appeared over one of her fingers.

"You...have...no...ri-" Hammerscrew screamed again, as Isala flicked her finger back at the disc split one of Hammerscrew's legs down the middle, from its hip to its spike.

Isala raised an eyebrow.

"Y...yes..." Hammerscrew whimpered.

The denizens of the undercity had crowded around the sudden, violent display and were staring at the victorious Isala. She stepped off of the mauled crime lord and pulled her sedge hat to cover her eyes.

"Spread the word." She told the crowd, then disappeared.


	11. Chapter 11: Emperor of Dirt

Isala found herself once more standing on Namek, the gravity getting more and more familiar to her with every trip. But this time, she knew exactly what she was here for, and exactly what she was going through. She'd appeared just a second ago, and saw the gang of Earthlings zoom around without taking notice of her arrival. No, they were focused on the crippled form of Vegeta that had been laid at Frieza's feet.

The moment she laid eyes on Frieza, nothing else mattered to Isala. Her blood pounded in her ears, loud enough to drown out the cries of the Earthlings. Her muscles writhed beneath her pale skin, eager to unleash every ounce of rage that had been building up inside her for far too long. She could feel her ki burning in perfect synchronicity with her mind. She knew that she had never felt Saiyan so purely as she did in that moment.

The emperor had a fraction of a second to spot Isala's approach through the hazy purple aura that had allowed him to defeat the Z-Fighters with so little effort. Then, her knee was buried in his throat and carried him to the ground beside Vegeta, where he landed with half his body buried in the dirt. He had barely a moment to react as his assailant grabbed at his arm, twisting it as far as she could, but he resisted with all of his strength.

Frieza's serpentine tail wrapped around Isala's throat, slamming her into the ground beside Frieza while he floated back to a vertical position. She snarled as the white coils tightened, hoisting her lower body up and unleashing two pink beams of energy from her soles. They arced around her opponent before slamming right into his eyes, forcing him to stagger backwards and release his grip on her throat. She lunged for him, but he darted into the air before her arms could seize him.

Isala launched off of the ground in pursuit, ignoring the pain in her neck as she gained and gained speed – only to run into a hail of purple beams that sought to annihilate her speed. She weaved between them, earning nothing but scorches on her extremities until she reached her foe. He swung a kick for her jaw, just grazing her through her backflip. Her legs wrapped tightly around his and she squeezed her body on it, pushing all of her core muscles to make it snap.

"What...are...you...doing?!" Freiza screeched at the rabid Saiyan, as he tried his best to kick at her with his other foot while she simply clung on. He tensed his muscles as best he could, but all of her strength was focused on his right leg and he could already feel it starting to train. He darted back and forth, attempting to shake her off just as he lashed out with his mighty tail – and found it stopped by her own, furry one batting it away.

"Release me, you filthy monkey!" Frieza cried again, as he contemplated his finger and shook his head. Instead, he poured all of his power into hurtling into one of the nearby islands. Isala fought back with her own flight, but was in not nearly so powerful a position to do so as the wind soared passed her ears. Just before she would have been plowed into the rocky surface, she released Frieza's leg and attempted to slip behind him.

Frieza's tail caught Isala as she did so, smacking her across the face and gouging a cut in the snowy flesh. She snarled at the pain, but just managing to hop over the swipe as Frieza spun around to face her. He swung a knee at her gut, which she blocked with her own, then his tail slipped between his legs to jab at her gut, which was knocked aside by her own. He exhaled as he feinted for her gut, then poured his strength into a lightning-fast cross across her already-sliced cheek.

Her red blood spattered over the green water of Namek and she was helpless to defend against the subsequent headbutt that speared her gut and sent her flying into the water. As she slipped into the cold depths, she sensed Frieza pooling his energy high above her. She took a few moments to gather herself before it was released, then created a whirring golden disc that she cast out beneath the island. She swam passed it, up to the other side, then soared out with a kick aimed squarely at Frieza's spine.

Frieza squealed as his back was compressed under Isala's boot, soaring passed one of the island' trees and latching onto it with his tail. He swung around it, transferring his momentum into a rushing blow at the Saiyan. She stumbled backwards after his punch, but he was forced to retreat as a whirring disc sawed out of the ground between his legs. He hopped back, just barely managing to retract his extremities, and cried out as a boot shot out from beneath the dissipating disc and slammed into his right knee.

Frieza's fists shot out in a whir of blows, swipes, jabs, and hooks. Isala ducked backwards from each of them, but he pushed his advantage, using quick darts side-to-side and using his tail to support his injured limb. She was soaked head to toe, bleeding heavily from one of her cheeks, and he was determined not to give her another blow. He pushed her back far enough that she was floating over the water, then stretched his finger out for a rapid series of beams.

Isala dodged what she could, the beams setting off a series of steamy explosions behind her, and blocked the rest with a building growl. Frieza launched himself at her again and she slipped into the air, catching his throat in the back of her knee and stopping his momentum cold. His body contorted around the point of impact and she tightened the grip of her leg on his throat, seizing one of his arms with her tail, the other with her other leg, while she bashed on his face with both of her fists.

Freiza's attempt at a rebuke was met with the knuckles of a Saiyan fist bashing into his mouth. The blows echoed around inside his skull as they both fell into the water, sinking down to the depths while she strangled him, tightened her grip on most of his body and left him with little to do but attempt to whack at her airtight grip with his tail. He caught the bitter blacks of her eyes with his own and choked as they hit the lakebed.

Isala could feel every thwap of Freiza's tail on her side, but she could feel his body weakening with every second in her grip. She could hear the microfractures forming in his neck, his bicep, his skull. Just a few moments longer and she'd have him destroyed. Just a little more pain in her back, from the constant slaps of Frieza's tail, just a little more, and she'd have won. She couldn't even hear the voices screaming for her to remember what she was there for.

Then she felt a great pressure building around her. Frieza's energy was dispersing...not dispersing, but spreading, through the water that surrounded them. The water pinned tighter and tighter around her, trying to crush her while she tried to crush Frieza, but not even touching him. She could feel it trying to force its way into her eyes, through her nose, passed her ears. As much as she wanted to brutalize the monster beneath her hands, she wanted to live to do it more.

Isala focused her energy inwards and splayed her limbs out. Golden energy poured out of her in a sphere, forcing Frieza across the lakebed and boiling the water that surrounded her. It evaporated instantly, turning into nothing more than steam as she caught her breath and the water started to pour back in around them. She fixed her eyes on Freiza, panting heavily while he sputtered and gasped, cricking his neck. It was just a moment of reprieve, and then she'd finish this.

Most of the lake had been evaporated already, leaving the pair of them standing in little more than ankle-deep water. Isala was the first to move, sprinting at the crawling Frieza. Purple beams formed in his hateful stare and she hopped over it, but it followed her. She was forced to skitter back and forth, kicking up water with every step. He kept crawling back as she dived between his attacks, up until he met the edge of the island they'd just been standing on and pulled himself to his feet.

Isala leaped at the standing Frieza, both of her boots aimed for his head, but he blinked forward just in time to wrap his tail around her legs and send her crashing into the island. She grunted as her legs crumpled beneath her, then forced herself to stand up against the island and rebound at Frieza's back. She slammed her elbow into the back of his knee, forcing him back to his hands and knees as she scrambled over him.

Frieza fought against every attempt to seize his limbs once more, dodging to the side, smacking a grabbing hand, shooting a blast of ki where he suspected she might move next. They exchanged faint blows, with every swipe at her face throwing another splatter of blood that stained Frieza's perfect form, and every blow to his knee making the Emperor stumble once more.

He'd just managed to get to his back as she aimed her heel at his knee, and slammed his own good one into her chest. The Saiyan was forced into the air and Frieza used his tail as a spring to follow, slamming once more into her chest. She soared over the island, landing on the other side. He flew after her, his lips caught in a grimace as she'd already caught herself and swung a kick at his head. He swiped his tail at her bruised back and she was knocked off course.

Frieza swung his arm, batting her further away with a gust of wind. "Now...you'll pay…!" He screeched at her, as every attempt at righting herself was met with another blast of air that sent her further back. He floated serenely as he could through the air, following her across the shallow Namek lake until she finally fell to the ground, gasping for breath with both fists in the dirt. He allowed himself a smirk as he lifted his right index finger.

"Enjoy defeat, monkey" Frieza said, as purple energy coalesced around his fingeritp. "It's all you people were meant for!" The death beam cut through the air and found…the center of a spinning disk. "What?!" He cried, but not for long, as Isala had scampered across the lakebed and darted up as their ki clashed. She grabbed Frieza's crippled leg and slammed him into the ground, his back sending up a wave of green water.

Frieza raised his digit to pluck her out of the air, but the snarling Saiyan slammed her boots into his gut and lurched forward. Her teeth dug deep into his finger, severing it from his hand as she bit down as hard as she could. His finger came off with a spurt of purple blood as she looked into his eyes. Her jaw worked, crunching at the severed finger, and she swallowed.

The Emperor's eyes were frozen wide in shock as the Saiyan pointed her own index finger at his forehead and a sphere of blue ki started to form on its tip. His pleas fell on deaf ears as it slammed into the center of his forehead, knocking him out cold and taking with it the purple aura that had been surrounding him.

Isala didn't say a word as she was pulled back from the fallen villain.


	12. Chapter 12: Stolen Days

Planet Vegeta was a ruby that dominated the sea of stars. In among the white of its moons and the stars beyond, it sat as an immovable giant. From the upper reaches of its atmosphere, to the depths of its deserts, to the people that inhabited it, it was a testament to endurance, presence, and pride. It was graceful even as a diminutive white ship appeared in the space around it, either ignorant of its fate or choosing not to waver even in its last moments.

On one of the moons orbiting Vegeta, two people sat cross-legged and watched the stalwart titan.

"Thanks for coming." Isala said to Trunks, though she didn't take her eyes away from Planet Vegeta for even a second. She hadn't stopped staring since they arrived.

"No problem." Trunks said, glancing over at the Saiyan woman with a familiar sadness in his eyes. "The Supreme Kai of Time wouldn't have let me not come, but I'd here anyway. I know this can't be easy for you."

"It isn't." Isala inhaled and let the silence stretch on for a few more moments. "I didn't get to see it from this angle often, and not at all like this. Knowing that I couldn't just see it again in a few weeks." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "But I'd watch it when I left, and when I came back, and I don't know if I realized how much I loved it then."

"It's nice." Trunks agreed with a nod of his head. "I'd have liked to visit there some day."

"There are a lot of planets that would have been nice to visit." Isala said. "And there still are, out there, probably. As long as somebody hasn't come along and decided to trash it for...whatever." She watched a few figures flying out of the newly-arrived spaceships, far in the distance and nothing but specks compared to the sheer size of Vegeta. "Do you know how many Saiyans are on that planet right now?"

Trunks shook his head and realized Isala wasn't paying him the slightest mind. "No, I don't."

"Three hundred, twenty one thousand, three hundred and five." Isala said. "I didn't know that until I looked it up. I felt like I had to, y'know? It made sense to find out how many of my people were wiped out. I thought knowing would make me angry, and it did, kind of, but...isn't it sad?" She asked, as the moisture in her eyes became that much heavier to bear. "That many lives. That many people. That many children. Who do you think they'd have grown up to be?"

"I...can't say." Trunks said. "But probably people better than Frieza."

"You'd hope so. It didn't seem fair when I first heard it. It's not fair, really, to anyone. To go about your life existing, following orders, doing what you can for the people you trust and then one day..." Isala sighed deeply. "It's all gone. Taken as easily as a coin from your pocket. All that effort, all that training, years and years of...not love, but care, at least. I'd like to think it was love, in our way. Maybe not done the same way as everyone else, but...it can't all have been bad people. We can't all have been villains."

"I don't think you were." Trunks concurred. "People aren't what they were born as. I don't think it's possible to be born as somebody bad. I know three Saiyans who turned out to be good people, and I've only known three Saiyans."

Isala hesitated. "Am I one of them?"

"Yeah."

"Right, okay, good. I'd hate to have to kick your ass right now." Isala laughed softly, though it was a bitter life that came with having to blink away a tear. "I think I can sense the life down there. It's hard to make out every one, but...I'm not crazy, am I? They're down there?"

"Yeah, they are." Trunks agreed. "You could probably sense yourself, if you wanted to."

"And that means I'll be able to feel it when they go..." Isala forced her eyes shut in an attempt to drown out some of the moisture. "I wonder if that will make it worse. It's hard to imagine it being any worse than it already is. If I could have sensed them when this first happened, I might have just died along with them. That might have been be-"

"It wouldn't have been better." Trunks said firmly. "You're doing good things now, and there's nobody who could have done them better than you. A lot of people say it, and they mean it, but for you, it's true. You were chosen to defend all of time and space. You're what the Multiverse needs."

"And all it cost was the rest of the Saiyans." Isala said. There was no bitterness to her voice, just an ever deeper sadness. "Millions of years of life on that planet, right now, and so many people that were happy, or could have been happy, but at least they would have been alive. Now I've got to carry all of that pain with me, for the sake of people that won't even know what it cost. If I'm needed so badly, maybe they weren't even meant to die. Maybe this only happened because...because it had to, to make me."

"That...look, that's not how the Dragon Balls work." Trunks insisted, but softly. "They didn't make Freiza destroy Planet Vegeta. That was all on him."

"Right...right." Isala breathed. "And even if they did, he would have done it eventually. The kind of scum that he is wouldn't have spared us. He didn't spare anyone else."

"That's right." Trunks nodded. "All the Dragon Balls did was save you at the last moment. "

"Yeah." Isala sniffled, as a scuffle started in the upper atmosphere of Vegeta. She could sense power flaring, the presence of Frieza, and something distinctly Saiyan. "Go me. Last of the Saiyans. I don't think any of them would have wished for that. They'd probably have wished it was them. Or King Vegeta. The bastard."

"It doesn't matter what they would have voted for." Trunks said. "What matters is who you are and what you can do." Trunks said. "I know how it feels to have everyone you know, and the people beyond that, die. Before you even really get a chance to know them. It always feels like you don't deserve to keep on living, not when you know what happened to them, or what's going to keep on happening in the future."

"But do you know what you do with those thoughts?" Trunks asked, as he placed a hand on Isala's shoulder. "You keep thinking them. You keep them deep in your heart. You think of all the hurt that you feel and you decide that you're not going to let anyone else go through what you have. You think of all the faces that you couldn't save, all the people you let down, and then you look at everyone else. The people you can save, the people you can spare, and you swear to do your best to make sure it never happens again. Not while you breathe."

A hot tear ran down Isala's cheek and onto her worn-down battlesuit. "Why me?"

"Because you're the only one who can." Trunks said. "That's not because you were chosen, it's because you're strong enough to take that pain and keep on going. It's never going to be easy, and it's never going to stop hurting, but you have it in you to be the person who stands up for all the people who can't. They might not like you, and they might not even thank you, but that doesn't matter. As long as you can give them the chance to smile."

"It won't bring them back..." Isala's first tear was followed by another, and then the next, until she couldn't hold back the tide. "My people...my planet..."

"You're right, it won't." Trunks said. "Everyone deserves a place to call home. The one you're used to isn't coming back, but that doesn't mean you've lost a home forever. There are people who care about you in Toki Toki City already. The Supreme Kai of Time, Reyki, Avada, me. And I think Toki Toki himself has taken a liking to you." He turned his gaze to Planet Vegeta, watching as a great amber orb started to form near Frieza's spaceship. "You have a new home, Isala. It's time to let go of this one."

Isala's tears turned into sobs as she hunched over, but couldn't tear her eyes away from her home planet. Her memories flashed in her mind brighter than they ever had before. The sands, the crags, the Saiyan race, Kukumba, all of them being obliterated by the supernova, and she was watching it happen all over again. Except this time, she knew she had to say goodbye.

Her fists clenched as she wept, the destruction of Planet Vegeta reflected in her eyes. The great red planet being torn asunder by the emperor's own hand. She started to tremble, feeling every life sign on Vegeta die, more and more of them with every second that passed. Her veins rose to the surface of her pale skin, while her muscles writhed like snakes under her skin and her sobs goes louder and louder.

Trunks yanked his hand back from Isala's shoulder as the moon beneath them started to shake, darting back some distance and crouching to place a palm on the moon's surface.

Flickers of golden energy ki formed around Isala, like the heralds of wind before a storm. She started to pull herself upright, never once taking her tear-filled eyes away from the destruction of Planet Vegeta while pure sorrow filled every inched of her being. There was nothing but her and her home. Nothing but the death of the latter to focus on, more and more of it dying, life being winked out moment by moment.

And then they were gone. Isala threw her head back and wailed. It was a primal wail that rippled through the void, across planets, and could be felt in the depths of even the oldest souls. The flickers of gold turned into bolts that lit her up like a sun. Her pitch black hair rose like golden flames, cresting a body defined with a warrior's muscles, Her pitch-black eyes, marred by being bloodshot, turned into a teal scowl.

Isala's cry finally ended and she stood on the planet with power still erupting out of every pore. Her chest rose and fall in heavy pants as she glared at the remnants of Planet Vegeta, now little more than space debris, and the little white ship that remained.

"No..more...kings!" Isala snarled.

Trunks darted before Isala with both of his hands held out in front of him, a reassuring smile on his face and a shine in his eyes.

"Wait up, Isala." Trunks urged, as Isala's fingers flexed. "I had to reinforce that moon just so you didn't vaporize it. If you start acting on your instincts now, you're going to pose a serious danger to time, okay? So just...calm down, think things through, and I can explain everything once we're back in the time nest."

Isala breathed deeply as Trunks instructed, and just then noticed her own form. She held her hand out in front of her, the golden ki surrounding it, and felt the sheer power flowing through her. She could pluck Frieza right out of space if she wanted to. But she didn't.

"I've made up my mind. I'm going to kill these tyrants wherever I find them." Isala said. "And I'm going to start with the Time Breakers."

Trunks nodded. "I think we all agree on that." Trunks said, as he floated up beside Isala. "But now, we'd better go back before somebody notices you…"


	13. Chapter 13: In Memoriam

"Remind me why I have to stay in this form." Isala told Trunks, as she walked beside him along the paved roads of Toki Toki City. She was clad in her old battlesuit, one that was nearly falling apart, but there was something new about her in that her hair had taken on a chalky blonde hue and stood on its ends. Her eyes were the distinct teal of a Super Saiyan.

"It's part of mastering it." Trunks explained, smiling at his partner. "The energy of a Super Saiyan is too volatile at first, and it makes you more inclined to aggression. Considering how you fight normally, that's a problem."

"For us, or the bad guys?" Isala asked, flashing a smile back at the taller Saiyan.

"Both." Trunks said. "And if there are times when you need the power of a Super Saiyan, but not all of it, then...you're probably going to use all of it, and then time will be messed up because you decided to rip off their arm instead of knocking them out. Like with Frieza."

"That was only a finger." Isala pointed out. "SKoT said it was an acceptable change to time, so stuff it up your ass."

"I can see you're still struggling with the emotions." Trunks said, wryly, and earned a Super Saiyan glare for his trouble. "How have you been getting along with that?"

"It's been fine." Isala shrugged. "If I know that I'm going to get angry, then it makes me less angry, if you know what I mean?"

"I know you tried to break my arm in sparring yesterday..."

"You were doing the thing where you keep trying to look cool." Isala huffed, and a flicker of her aura flared to life. "I don't know who you're trying to impress with that stuff. I was the only one there."

Trunks shrugged. "Well, when you've got it, you've got it."

Isala laughed. "Oh, wow, good thing one of us knows how to handle her ego." She said. "Wait a minute, if this is how you master Super Saiyan, why don't you walk around blonde? You told me you can do it."

"I mastered Super Saiyan a long time ago." Trunks shrugged. "I could keep using it, but there's no reason to. Unless you like going around blonde."

"It's...different, yeah." Isala said. "The annoying thing is that I can't wear my hat. You haven't got some anti-spike gel somewhere, so I can still wear it?"

"I think you'll be able to wear your hat yourself, once you can stop channeling all of your power in the form." Trunk said. "Until then, you'll have to deal with making eye contact, just like everyone else."

"Yeah, yeah." Isala said. "And another thing."

"Were you up all night making a list of things to complain about?" Trunks raised an eyebrow.

"Bite me. How come you kept this a secret from me? Everyone who's noticed me going around in this form knows what it is. SKoT was proud of it. But don't you think that you should have told me before? So I could work towards it?"

"That's not how the form works." Trunks said. "At least, not for pure Saiyans. A while ago, we decided that we'd have to keep it secret from any pure Saiyans that joined us, should that somehow happen. This is because it can only come out in moments of intense emotion, and once you've reached a certain power level. If you knew about it, it would interfere with your genuine emotions, or something like that, anyway."

"Then how do half-Saiyans like you get it?"

"It's just easy for half-Saiyans, depending on a few things. The harder your life, the harder it is to achieve. It's kind of like a state of mind – you need intense emotions to break through the barrier that your own thick skin has made. Since most half-Saiyans spend their lives in relative peace, they can access the form without all the heartache." Trunks explained.

"How's that fair?" Isala frowned, as they came up alongside the domain of the tailor droid, who sat inside an exposed dome with a set of overalls painted on its chassis. "Saiyans who need it the most don't get it, but a bunch of farmers do?"

"It's not about what's fair." Trunks said. "It's just how it is."

"...yeah, I guess you're right." Isala said, as she pulled open the display that revealed a series of attires from gi to superhero costumes.

"What are you going for?" Trunks asked, as he peered over her shoulder at the display.

"I'm going to go with a battlesuit, like this one, just...a few modifications." Isala said, as she selected a Saiyan battlesuit and removed the sleeves.

"Any reason for that?" Trunks asked.

"No, I just don't want sleeves." Isala said, as she switched to the variant of armor that stood as just a vest. "I'm keeping it white and yellow. It's classic, and gold matches the sands on Vegeta. Likewise..." She changed the color of the battlesuit beneath to a deep red, smiling as she did so. "Red to match the sky."

"I think it'll look good on you." Trunks said, as he admired the interface.

"Yeah, but it's missing one thing." Isala said, as she shot a smile up at Trunks and placed the Time Patrol logo on its left breast. "Perfect." She said, as she tapped the button. The droid behind the counter lifted up one of its many devices and pointed it at Isala. She was briefly surrounded by a white glow, along with a tray on the counter. The tray held her old outfit, while Isala stood before Trunks in her brand new outfit.

Isala stretched out her arms and performed a few basic stretches. "Feels….good." She said with a smile. "What do you think? Do I look like Time Patroller material?"

"Yeah." Trunks nodded. "And kind of like my dad." He mused.

"Who is your dad?"

"Veget-uhhhh."

Isala slowly turned her glare to Trunks. "What?"


End file.
